Bryanna
A feminine name of Scottish origin meaning "noble" or "high-born".
Name Census estimates that about 19,139 living Americans carry the first name Bryanna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bryanna today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bryanna births was 1998 (1,027 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bryanna. 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 Bryanna with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
19K
~ 1 in 17,909 Americans
Peak year
1998
1,027 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,739
Tracked since 1959
Census
Bryanna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 15,181 people with the first name Bryanna, which placed it at #1,885 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
#1,885
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
15,181 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bryanna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bryanna is White at 42.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (32.7%) and Black (17.2%). 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 Bryanna 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 Bryanna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.3% · 6,424
- Hispanic or Latino32.7% · 4,959
- Black or African American17.2% · 2,607
- Two or more races5.6% · 857
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 198
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 136
Popularity
Bryanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bryanna from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 7,901 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bryanna 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 Bryanna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bryannas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 46 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Bryanna, while Montana, District of Columbia, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 381 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bryanna
The name Bryanna is a feminine given name of English origin, derived from the combination of the names Brian and Anna. It first emerged as a distinct name in the late 20th century, gaining popularity in the United States and other English-speaking countries.
The name Brian has its roots in the ancient Celtic culture and is believed to have evolved from the Old Celtic word "bri," meaning "high" or "noble." The name Anna, on the other hand, has Hebrew origins and is derived from the Hebrew name Hannah, meaning "grace" or "favor."
While there are no known historical references to the specific name Bryanna in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its components, Brian and Anna, have been used separately for centuries. The earliest recorded use of the name Bryanna can be traced back to the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Bryanna was Bryanna Curry, an American tennis player born in 1976. She achieved success on the professional circuit, reaching a career-high ranking of No. 19 in the world in 2004.
Another prominent figure named Bryanna was Bryanna Coles, an American singer-songwriter born in 1991. She gained recognition for her participation in the ninth season of the reality show "American Idol" in 2010.
In the literary world, Bryanna Fernandez is a well-known American author and illustrator of children's books. Her works include "Black Girl Magic" (2018) and "Brown Baby Lullaby" (2020), celebrating diversity and empowering young readers.
Bryanna Fox, born in 1988, is a Canadian actress and model known for her roles in television series such as "Defiance" and "The Opposite Sex."
Bryanna Ricedorff, born in 1996, is an American beach volleyball player who has represented the United States in international competitions, including the 2019 World Beach Games.
These examples showcase the diverse backgrounds and accomplishments of individuals who share the name Bryanna, reflecting its growing popularity and widespread use in various fields.
People
Bryanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bryanna 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
Bryanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bryanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 19,139 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bryanna 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 17,909 US residents.
Is Bryanna a common name?
We classify Bryanna as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 19,561 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bryanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Bryanna was 1998, when 1,027 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bryanna is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bryanna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 15,181 people with the name Bryanna, or 5.03 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,885 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 Bryanna 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 Bryanna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bryanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 15,186 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Bryanna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bryanna is White at 42.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (32.7%) and Black (17.2%). 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 Bryanna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bryanna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.3% (6,424 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 Bryanna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bryanna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bryanna 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 Bryanna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bryanna 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 Bryanna 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 Bryanna as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Bryanna, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.