Brittan
A feminine diminutive name meaning "little British girl".
Name Census estimates that about 1,318 living Americans carry the first name Brittan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 64.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Brittan today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brittan births was 1986 (58 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brittan. 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.
Key insights
- • Brittan sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 260,056 Americans
Peak year
1986
58 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,020
Tracked since 1974
Census
Brittan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,213 people with the first name Brittan, which placed it at #10,814 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
#10,814
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,213 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brittan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brittan is White at 80.6%. The next largest groups are Black (9.9%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Brittan 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 Brittan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.6% · 978
- Black or African American9.9% · 120
- Two or more races4.9% · 60
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 44
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Brittan
Brittan is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,358 total registrations, 480 (35.3%) were male and 878 (64.7%) were female.
Brittan as a male name
- Ranked #11,020 in 2023
- 6 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1986 (22 births)
Brittan as a female name
- Ranked #11,349 in 2023
- 8 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1986 (36 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Brittan on both sides of the split. Of the 1,215 people counted with this name, 419 were male (34.5%) and 796 were female (65.5%).
Popularity
Brittan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brittan from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 403 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brittan 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 Brittan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brittans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Brittan, while Florida, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brittan
The given name Brittan is believed to have its origins in the Old English language, derived from the word "Bryten," which referred to the island of Great Britain. This name likely emerged during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, between the 5th and 11th centuries.
The name Brittan may have been initially used to denote someone who hailed from or had a connection to the British Isles. It could have been a way to distinguish individuals from the local population or indicate their heritage.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brittan can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record compiled in the late 9th century. In this text, the name appears as "Bryten," referring to the island itself.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Brittan. One such figure was Brittan of Somerset (c. 1050 - 1120), a landowner and minor nobleman who played a role in the Norman Conquest of England.
Another prominent individual was Brittan the Elder (c. 1180 - 1245), a Benedictine monk and scholar known for his contributions to the study of canon law and theology.
In the realm of literature, Brittan Smythe (1620 - 1688) was a celebrated poet and playwright during the Restoration period in England. His works often explored themes of love, nature, and the human condition.
Moving forward in time, Brittan Wilkinson (1785 - 1861) was a celebrated explorer and cartographer who mapped vast areas of the American West, contributing significantly to the expansion of the United States in the 19th century.
Lastly, Brittan Holloway (1910 - 1992) was a pioneering aviator and one of the first women to earn a commercial pilot's license in the United States. She played a crucial role in breaking down gender barriers in the field of aviation.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Brittan throughout history, reflecting its enduring legacy and connection to the British Isles and the English language.
People
Brittan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brittan 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
Brittan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brittan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,318 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brittan 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 260,056 US residents.
Is Brittan a common name?
We classify Brittan as "Rare". It ranks above 91.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,358 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brittan most popular?
The single biggest year for Brittan was 1986, when 58 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brittan is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brittan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,213 people with the name Brittan, or 0.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,814 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 Brittan 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 Brittan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Brittan on both sides of the split. Of the 1,215 people counted with this name, 419 were male (34.5%) and 796 were female (65.5%). 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 Brittan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brittan is White at 80.6%. The next largest groups are Black (9.9%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Brittan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brittan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.6% (978 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 Brittan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brittan a female name?
Yes, 64.7% of people registered as Brittan 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 Brittan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brittan 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 Brittan 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 Brittan?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.