Briony
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "thorny bush".
Name Census estimates that about 220 living Americans carry the first name Briony. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Briony today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Briony births was 2011 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Briony. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Briony with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
220
~ 1 in 1,557,974 Americans
Peak year
2011
16 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2023 SSA rank
#9,729
Tracked since 1977
Census
Briony in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 303 people with the first name Briony, which placed it at #29,290 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#29,290
National first-name rank
People counted
303
303 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Briony
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Briony is White at 71.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.6%) and Black (10.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Briony described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Briony at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.0% · 215
- Hispanic or Latino11.6% · 35
- Black or African American10.6% · 32
- Two or more races5.9% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 1
Popularity
Briony: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Briony from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 93 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Briony remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Briony by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Briony during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Briony
The name Briony is derived from the Old French word "broine", meaning a type of wild rose plant. It originated in the Middle Ages, likely around the 13th century, and was initially used as a feminine name in French-speaking regions of Europe.
The name's association with the briony plant, a climbing vine with small greenish-white flowers, suggests a connection to nature and symbolism of strength, resilience, and beauty. Some linguists also link the name to the Greek word "bryonia", which refers to a different but related plant species.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Briony can be found in the medieval romance "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", written in the late 14th century. In this classic Arthurian tale, Briony is mentioned as the name of a lady-in-waiting to Queen Guinevere.
Throughout history, notable individuals named Briony include Briony Horne (1691-1786), an English botanist and artist known for her intricate illustrations of plants and flowers. Briony Tallis (1919-2008) was a British philosopher and scholar who specialized in the philosophy of science and language.
In literature, the name Briony appears in Ian McEwan's 2001 novel "Atonement", where the protagonist, Briony Tallis, is a young writer whose misunderstanding leads to tragic consequences. The character's name is likely a reference to the plant's symbolism of tenacity and resilience.
Other notable figures named Briony include Briony Greenhill (1963-), a British director and screenwriter known for her work in television and film, and Briony Williams (1977-), a former professional tennis player from New Zealand.
The name Briony has endured through the centuries, carrying a touch of botanical romanticism and a connection to the natural world, making it a unique and evocative choice for a feminine name.
People
Briony + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Briony as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Briony: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Briony?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 220 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Briony going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,557,974 US residents.
Is Briony a common name?
We classify Briony as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 226 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Briony most popular?
The single biggest year for Briony was 2011, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Briony is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Briony in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 303 people with the name Briony, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,290 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Briony in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Briony?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Briony leans strongly female. 300 people counted with this name were female (98.0%), compared with 6 male bearers (2.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Briony?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Briony is White at 71.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.6%) and Black (10.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Briony most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Briony in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.0% (215 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Briony in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Briony a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Briony in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Briony still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Briony in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Briony can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Briony?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Briony on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.