Bryce
From the French surname meaning "speckled or freckled brown".
Name Census estimates that about 121,722 living Americans carry the first name Bryce. It sits at #297 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (97.2% of registrations). The average person named Bryce today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bryce births was 2000 (4,437 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bryce. 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 Bryce with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Bryce is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 3,516 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
122K
~ 1 in 2,816 Americans
Peak year
2000
4,437 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#297
Tracked since 1908
Census
Bryce in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 107,823 people with the first name Bryce, which placed it at #523 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
#523
National first-name rank
People counted
108K
107,823 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
35.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bryce
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bryce is White at 76.0%. The next largest groups are Black (10.4%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Bryce 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 Bryce at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.0% · 81,972
- Black or African American10.4% · 11,253
- Two or more races5.8% · 6,288
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 5,757
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 1,808
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 745
Gender
Gender distribution for Bryce
Bryce leans heavily male at 97.2% of total registrations, but 3,516 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Bryce as a male name
- Ranked #297 in 2024
- 1,127 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (4,319 births)
Bryce as a female name
- Ranked #2,527 in 2024
- 70 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (163 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bryce leans strongly male. 104,836 people counted with this name were male (97.2%), compared with 2,989 female bearers (2.8%).
Popularity
Bryce: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bryce from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 40,911 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
Bryce 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 Bryce during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bryces live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Bryce, while Vermont, Rhode Island, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,369 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bryce
Bryce is a given name of Scottish origin, derived from the Gaelic word 'bréac', meaning 'speckled' or 'freckled'. The name was initially used as a surname, referring to someone with a freckled complexion or someone from a place with a speckled or mottled landscape.
The earliest recorded use of Bryce as a given name dates back to the 12th century. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Bryce of Arbroath, a Scottish cleric and diplomat who lived in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. He was instrumental in negotiating the Treaty of Perth in 1219, which resolved a long-standing dispute between Scotland and England.
Bryce gained popularity as a given name during the Middle Ages, particularly in Scotland and Northern England. It was often associated with nobility and landowners, as it was common for families to adopt surnames derived from physical characteristics or geographic features of their lands.
In the 16th century, Bryce Douglas, a Scottish nobleman and military leader, played a significant role in the Scottish Reformation. He was a staunch supporter of Protestant causes and fought against the Catholic forces of Mary, Queen of Scots.
The name Bryce also appears in literary works, such as the novel "The Fortunes of Nigel" by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1822. In the novel, one of the characters is named Bryce Snailsfoot, a young Scotsman who travels to London and becomes involved in the intrigues of the court.
Other notable individuals named Bryce throughout history include Bryce Harlow (1916-1987), an American political advisor who served as a White House staff member under several US presidents, and Bryce Dessner (born 1976), an American composer and guitarist best known as a member of the rock band The National.
Bryce has remained a popular name in English-speaking countries, particularly in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. While its usage has fluctuated over time, the name has maintained its Scottish roots and associations with strength, nobility, and a connection to the natural world.
People
Bryce + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bryce 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
Bryce: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bryce?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 121,722 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bryce 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 2,816 US residents.
Is Bryce a common name?
We classify Bryce as "Common". It ranks above 99.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 126,685 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bryce most popular?
The single biggest year for Bryce was 2000, when 4,437 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bryce 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 Bryce in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 107,823 people with the name Bryce, or 35.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #523 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 Bryce 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 Bryce?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bryce leans strongly male. 104,836 people counted with this name were male (97.2%), compared with 2,989 female bearers (2.8%). 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 Bryce?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bryce is White at 76.0%. The next largest groups are Black (10.4%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Bryce most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bryce in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.0% (81,972 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 Bryce in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bryce a male name?
Yes, 97.2% of people registered as Bryce 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 Bryce still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bryce 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 Bryce 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 Bryce?
Find out how many people share the name Bryce on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.