Bryden
Of possible Celtic origin, an uncommon masculine name meaning "tanner".
Name Census estimates that about 1,916 living Americans carry the first name Bryden. It is a predominantly male name (98.6% of registrations). The average person named Bryden today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bryden births was 2013 (149 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bryden. 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 Bryden with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Bryden is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.9K
~ 1 in 178,891 Americans
Peak year
2013
149 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,988
Tracked since 1977
Census
Bryden in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,743 people with the first name Bryden, which placed it at #8,344 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
#8,344
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,743 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bryden
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bryden is White at 69.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.3%) and Black (7.6%). 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 Bryden 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 Bryden at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.3% · 1,208
- Hispanic or Latino11.3% · 197
- Black or African American7.6% · 132
- Two or more races6.9% · 121
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 60
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 25
Gender
Gender distribution for Bryden
Bryden leans heavily male at 98.6% of total registrations, but 28 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Bryden as a male name
- Ranked #3,988 in 2024
- 27 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (149 births)
Bryden as a female name
- Ranked #15,717 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2005 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bryden leans strongly male. 1,674 people counted with this name were male (96.0%), compared with 70 female bearers (4.0%).
Popularity
Bryden: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bryden from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,031 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
Bryden 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 Bryden during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brydens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. Ohio, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Bryden, while Utah, Minnesota, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 33 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bryden
The name Bryden is of Scottish origin, derived from the Old English word "brycg," meaning "bridge." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone who lived near a bridge or was associated with the construction or maintenance of bridges.
The name Bryden emerged in the medieval period, with some of the earliest recorded instances dating back to the 13th century in Scotland. It is believed to have been a variant of the more common name Bryden or Briden, which was often used as a surname for those associated with bridges.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Bryden was Bryden de Lanark, a Scottish nobleman who lived in the late 13th century. He was a prominent figure in the court of King Alexander III and played a role in the Wars of Scottish Independence against England.
In the 16th century, Bryden Douglas was a Scottish clergyman and poet who served as the Bishop of Moray from 1541 to 1551. He was known for his religious writings and his support for the Scottish Reformation.
In the 17th century, Bryden Macpherson was a Scottish soldier who fought for the Royalist cause during the English Civil War. He was captured at the Battle of Philiphaugh in 1645 and later executed for his role in the conflict.
In the 18th century, Bryden Tulloch was a Scottish writer and historian who authored several books on the history and culture of the Highlands. His work, "The Tulloch Family History," published in 1789, is considered an important source of information on Highland clans and genealogy.
In the 19th century, Bryden Prendergast was an Irish-born Australian politician and lawyer who served as the Premier of Victoria from 1880 to 1881. He was a prominent figure in the early political development of the colony of Victoria.
These examples illustrate the historical use of the name Bryden across various contexts, including nobility, religion, military service, literature, and politics. While the name has its roots in Scotland, it has been adopted and used by individuals from different backgrounds and regions over the centuries.
People
Bryden + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bryden 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
Bryden: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bryden?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,916 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bryden 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 178,891 US residents.
Is Bryden a common name?
We classify Bryden as "Rare". It ranks above 93.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,937 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bryden most popular?
The single biggest year for Bryden was 2013, when 149 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bryden is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bryden in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,743 people with the name Bryden, or 0.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,344 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 Bryden 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 Bryden?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bryden leans strongly male. 1,674 people counted with this name were male (96.0%), compared with 70 female bearers (4.0%). 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 Bryden?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bryden is White at 69.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.3%) and Black (7.6%). 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 Bryden most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bryden in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.3% (1,208 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 Bryden in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bryden a male name?
Yes, 98.6% of people registered as Bryden 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 Bryden still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bryden 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 Bryden 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 share the name Bryden?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.