Britteny
A feminine given name of English origin meaning "from Brittany".
Name Census estimates that about 1,391 living Americans carry the first name Britteny. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Britteny today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Britteny births was 1989 (143 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Britteny. 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 Britteny with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 246,409 Americans
Peak year
1989
143 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2009 SSA rank
#17,779
Tracked since 1974
Census
Britteny in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,408 people with the first name Britteny, which placed it at #9,739 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
#9,739
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,408 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Britteny
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Britteny is White at 58.2%. The next largest groups are Black (25.9%) and Hispanic (9.4%). 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 Britteny 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 Britteny at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.2% · 819
- Black or African American25.9% · 365
- Hispanic or Latino9.4% · 133
- Two or more races5.0% · 70
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 9
Popularity
Britteny: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Britteny from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 682 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
Britteny 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 Britteny during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brittenys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. California, Ohio, Texas recorded the most babies named Britteny, while West Virginia, Wisconsin, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Britteny
The name Britteny is derived from the Old Breton word "britho" meaning "speckled or freckled", referring to the complexion of those from the British Isles. The origins of the name can be traced back to the ancient Celtic tribes that inhabited the region now known as Great Britain during the Iron Age.
In the 5th century AD, the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain introduced the name to the English language. It was initially used as a descriptive term for the native Britons, who were often distinguished by their freckled complexions. Over time, the name evolved into a personal name, particularly popular among the Anglo-Saxon nobility.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Britteny can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landowners and properties in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The book mentions a landowner named Britteny of Dorset, indicating the name's use as a personal identifier during the Norman period.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Britteny enjoyed popularity among the English aristocracy. Notable figures bearing the name include Britteny of Blois (c. 1092-1137), a noblewoman and daughter of King Stephen of England, and Britteny de Montfort (c. 1181-1252), a prominent leader during the Barons' War against King John.
In the Renaissance era, the name Britteny gained further recognition with the birth of Britteny Sidney (1554-1586), a celebrated English poet and courtier during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Her literary works, including the renowned "Astrophil and Stella" sonnet sequence, contributed to the name's enduring legacy.
Another notable figure was Britteny Howard (c. 1625-1698), an English Puritan minister and one of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. His influential role in shaping early American society and religious life solidified the name's presence in the New World.
During the Victorian era, the name Britteny experienced a resurgence in popularity, with notable bearers including Britteny Nightingale (1820-1910), the pioneering English nurse and social reformer, and Britteny Tennyson (1809-1892), the renowned English poet laureate and author of works such as "The Charge of the Light Brigade".
People
Britteny + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Britteny 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
Britteny: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Britteny?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,391 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Britteny 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 246,409 US residents.
Is Britteny a common name?
We classify Britteny as "Rare". It ranks above 92% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,450 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Britteny most popular?
The single biggest year for Britteny was 1989, when 143 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Britteny 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 Britteny in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,408 people with the name Britteny, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,739 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 Britteny 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 Britteny?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Britteny appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,407 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 Britteny?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Britteny is White at 58.2%. The next largest groups are Black (25.9%) and Hispanic (9.4%). 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 Britteny most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Britteny in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.2% (819 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 Britteny in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Britteny a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Britteny 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 Britteny still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Britteny 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 Britteny 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 common is the name Britteny?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Britteny on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.