Brittany
A feminine name of French origin meaning "from Brittany".
Name Census estimates that about 346,824 living Americans carry the first name Brittany. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Brittany today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brittany births was 1989 (38,007 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brittany. 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 Brittany with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Brittany is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,078 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1990s, recent registration numbers for Brittany have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
347K
~ 1 in 988 Americans
Peak year
1989
38,007 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2004 SSA rank
#791
Tracked since 1963
Census
Brittany in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 302,727 people with the first name Brittany, which placed it at #168 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
#168
National first-name rank
People counted
303K
302,727 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
100.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brittany
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brittany is White at 71.8%. The next largest groups are Black (14.7%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Brittany 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 Brittany at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.8% · 217,225
- Black or African American14.7% · 44,536
- Hispanic or Latino7.9% · 23,929
- Two or more races4.2% · 12,764
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 2,167
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 2,106
Gender
Gender distribution for Brittany
Out of the 361,465 babies given the name Brittany since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Brittany as a male name
- Ranked #5,854 in 2004
- 13 male births in 2004
- Peak: 1989 (216 births)
Brittany as a female name
- Ranked #791 in 2024
- 355 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1989 (37,791 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brittany appears almost entirely female. Of the 302,717 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Brittany: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brittany from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 191,182 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
Brittany 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 Brittany during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brittanys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Brittany, while Wyoming, Vermont, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7,046 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brittany
The given name Brittany originated from the region of Brittany in northwestern France. It derives from the Breton language spoken in that area, stemming from the words "Bro" meaning country and "Iton" meaning little. The name thus translates to "Little Briton" or "One from Little Britain".
In the 5th century, Celtic Britons migrated from Great Britain across the English Channel to the Armorican peninsula, fleeing the Anglo-Saxon invasions of their homeland. They established a settlement known as Brittany, or Little Britain, preserving their language and culture over the centuries. The name Brittany emerged as a regional identifier during this period.
As an ancient name rooted in this historical migration, Brittany has been documented as early as the 9th century in medieval records and literature from Brittany. One of the earliest known bearers was Brittany, Duchess of Brittany, who ruled the region from 1199 to 1201 during the Breton War of Succession.
Over the subsequent centuries, the name spread gradually beyond its regional confines. A notable bearer was Brittany of Hainault (1200-1244), a French noblewoman and Countess of Flanders. Another was Brittany de Berkeley (1285-1347), an English noblewoman from Gloucestershire.
In the 15th century, Joan Brittany (1480-1537) was a French prostitute who became a famous madam in London's Bankside brothels, famed for her wit and audacity. Much later, Brittany de Villiers (1677-1747) was a prominent French playwright and feminist author during the Age of Enlightenment.
While traditionally associated with its regional origins in northwestern France, the name Brittany has gained broader popularity over time, particularly in English-speaking countries like the United States and Britain. Its charming link to the scenic Brittany region and its historic Celtic roots have contributed to its enduring appeal.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Brittany
People
Brittany + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brittany 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
Brittany: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brittany?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 346,824 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brittany 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 988 US residents.
Is Brittany a common name?
We classify Brittany as "Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 361,465 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brittany most popular?
The single biggest year for Brittany was 1989, when 38,007 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brittany is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brittany in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 302,727 people with the name Brittany, or 100.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #168 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 Brittany 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 Brittany?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brittany appears almost entirely female. Of the 302,717 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Brittany?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brittany is White at 71.8%. The next largest groups are Black (14.7%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Brittany most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brittany in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.8% (217,225 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 Brittany in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brittany a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Brittany 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 Brittany still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brittany 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 Brittany 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 are named Brittany?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Brittany, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.