Britton
Of English origin meaning "from the great manor".
Name Census estimates that about 7,686 living Americans carry the first name Britton. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 76.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Britton today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Britton births was 2011 (216 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Britton. 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.
People living today
7.7K
~ 1 in 44,595 Americans
Peak year
2011
216 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,949
Tracked since 1896
Census
Britton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,738 people with the first name Britton, which placed it at #3,203 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
#3,203
National first-name rank
People counted
6.7K
6,738 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Britton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Britton is White at 83.9%. The next largest groups are Black (6.8%) 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 Britton 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 Britton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.9% · 5,656
- Black or African American6.8% · 459
- Two or more races4.9% · 329
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 206
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 63
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 25
Gender
Gender distribution for Britton
Britton is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 8,222 total registrations, 6,291 (76.5%) were male and 1,931 (23.5%) were female.
Britton as a male name
- Ranked #2,949 in 2024
- 42 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (151 births)
Britton as a female name
- Ranked #5,965 in 2024
- 20 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (103 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Britton on both sides of the split. Of the 6,739 people counted with this name, 5,037 were male (74.7%) and 1,702 were female (25.3%).
Popularity
Britton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Britton from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,767 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Britton 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 Britton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brittons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 30 states and territories. Texas, Utah, California recorded the most babies named Britton, while Wisconsin, Oregon, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 99 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Britton
The name Britton is derived from the Old English word "Bryten," which means "Briton" or "Brythonic." This name has its origins in the ancient Celtic tribes that inhabited the British Isles, known as the Britons or Brythonic Celts. The name became popular during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, which lasted from the 5th to the 11th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Britton can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a collection of annals that documented the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The name was likely used to distinguish individuals with British or Celtic ancestry from those of Germanic descent.
Over the centuries, the name Britton has been borne by several notable individuals. One of the earliest examples is Britton of Beverley, a renowned English theologian and scholar who lived in the 8th century. He is credited with writing several religious works and was highly regarded for his teachings.
Another historical figure with the name Britton was John Britton (1771-1857), an English author, and antiquarian. He is best known for his publications on the architectural heritage of England, including "The Beauties of England and Wales" and "The Cathedral Antiquities of England."
In the realm of literature, Britton Hammon (1828-1881) was an American author and abolitionist. Born into slavery, he became one of the first African American writers to be published in the United States with his autobiographical work, "The Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings, and Surprising Deliverance of Briton Hammon, a Negro Man."
Moving to the 20th century, Britton Chance (1913-2010) was an American biochemist and biophysicist. He made significant contributions to the field of biomedical optics and the development of techniques for studying biological systems using light.
Lastly, Britton Edwards (born 1994) is a contemporary American basketball player who currently plays for the Chicago Bulls in the NBA. He was a standout player during his college career at the University of Virginia and was selected in the second round of the 2018 NBA draft.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Britton throughout history, showcasing its longevity and cultural significance over the centuries.
People
Britton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Britton 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
Britton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Britton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,686 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Britton 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 44,595 US residents.
Is Britton a common name?
We classify Britton as "Rare". It ranks above 97.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,222 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Britton most popular?
The single biggest year for Britton was 2011, when 216 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Britton is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Britton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,738 people with the name Britton, or 2.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,203 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 Britton 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 Britton?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Britton on both sides of the split. Of the 6,739 people counted with this name, 5,037 were male (74.7%) and 1,702 were female (25.3%). 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 Britton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Britton is White at 83.9%. The next largest groups are Black (6.8%) 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 Britton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Britton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.9% (5,656 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 Britton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Britton a male name?
Yes, 76.5% of people registered as Britton in the SSA data are male. 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 Britton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Britton 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 Britton 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 Britton?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.