Bryant
A masculine name derived from a place name meaning "the burnt wood" or "burned clearing".
Name Census estimates that about 46,367 living Americans carry the first name Bryant. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Bryant today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bryant births was 1989 (1,742 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bryant. 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 Bryant with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Bryant is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 237 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
46K
~ 1 in 7,392 Americans
Peak year
1989
1,742 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,175
Tracked since 1880
Census
Bryant in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 37,659 people with the first name Bryant, which placed it at #1,096 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
#1,096
National first-name rank
People counted
38K
37,659 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
12.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
40.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bryant
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bryant is White at 40.9%. The next largest groups are Black (30.4%) and Hispanic (19.2%). 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 Bryant 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 Bryant at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White40.9% · 15,421
- Black or African American30.4% · 11,430
- Hispanic or Latino19.2% · 7,220
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.1% · 1,913
- Two or more races3.6% · 1,360
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 315
Gender
Gender distribution for Bryant
Out of the 51,787 babies given the name Bryant since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Bryant as a male name
- Ranked #1,175 in 2024
- 176 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1989 (1,737 births)
Bryant as a female name
- Ranked #15,539 in 2020
- 5 female births in 2020
- Peak: 1988 (15 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bryant appears almost entirely male. Of the 37,663 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Bryant: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bryant from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 10,007 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
Bryant 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 Bryant during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bryants live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Bryant, while Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 915 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bryant
The name Bryant has its origins in the Old English language and can be traced back to the 11th century. It is derived from the Old English words "burn" meaning a stream or brook, and "hynt" meaning a hunter or someone skilled in woodcraft. The name was likely given to individuals who lived near a brook or were skilled hunters or foresters.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Bryant can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror, which contains a record of landowners in England. The name appears as "Bruant" and "Bruanth" in various entries.
In the 12th century, the name Bryant appears in the Pipe Rolls, a series of financial records maintained by the English Exchequer. One notable bearer of the name was Bryant de Insula, a landowner in Lincolnshire who is mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of 1166.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Bryant was relatively common among the English gentry and nobility. One prominent historical figure was Sir Bryant de Redmarley, a 13th-century knight and landowner in Worcestershire. He was involved in the Second Barons' War, a rebellion against King Henry III, and was captured at the Battle of Evesham in 1265.
During the Renaissance period, the name Bryant gained prominence in the arts and literature. Bryant Jonson, an English actor and playwright who lived from around 1560 to 1627, was a contemporary of William Shakespeare and is known for his satirical plays and masques.
Another notable bearer of the name was Bryant Fairfax, an English poet and translator who lived from 1585 to 1639. He is best known for his translations of various works from Spanish and Italian into English, including works by Tasso and Guarini.
In the 18th century, Bryant became a popular name among the American Colonies. One of the most famous individuals with this name was William Cullen Bryant, an American romantic poet and journalist who lived from 1794 to 1878. He is best known for his poems "Thanatopsis" and "To a Waterfowl," and was a prominent figure in the early American literary scene.
Throughout history, the name Bryant has been borne by individuals from various walks of life, including writers, artists, soldiers, and statesmen. Its enduring popularity and use across different cultures and time periods reflect its rich historical significance and linguistic roots.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Bryant
People
Bryant + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bryant 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
Bryant: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bryant?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 46,367 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bryant 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 7,392 US residents.
Is Bryant a common name?
We classify Bryant as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 51,787 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bryant most popular?
The single biggest year for Bryant was 1989, when 1,742 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bryant is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bryant in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 37,659 people with the name Bryant, or 12.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,096 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 Bryant 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 Bryant?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bryant appears almost entirely male. Of the 37,663 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Bryant?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bryant is White at 40.9%. The next largest groups are Black (30.4%) and Hispanic (19.2%). 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 Bryant most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bryant in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.9% (15,421 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 Bryant in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bryant a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Bryant 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 Bryant still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bryant 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 Bryant 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 Bryant?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.