Bryson
Son of the robust or sturdy one, derived from an English surname.
Name Census estimates that about 79,892 living Americans carry the first name Bryson. It sits at #147 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bryson today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bryson births was 2017 (4,685 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bryson. 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 Bryson with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Bryson is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 279 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Bryson is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
80K
~ 1 in 4,290 Americans
Peak year
2017
4,685 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#147
Tracked since 1914
Census
Bryson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 58,586 people with the first name Bryson, which placed it at #812 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
#812
National first-name rank
People counted
59K
58,586 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
19.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bryson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bryson is White at 62.4%. The next largest groups are Black (20.2%) and Two or More Races (7.5%). 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 Bryson 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 Bryson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.4% · 36,549
- Black or African American20.2% · 11,807
- Two or more races7.5% · 4,383
- Hispanic or Latino6.9% · 4,021
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 1,159
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 667
Gender
Gender distribution for Bryson
Out of the 81,069 babies given the name Bryson since 1880, 99.7% 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.
Bryson as a male name
- Ranked #147 in 2024
- 2,469 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (4,677 births)
Bryson as a female name
- Ranked #13,906 in 2022
- 6 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2004 (17 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bryson appears almost entirely male. Of the 58,590 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Bryson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bryson from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 38,735 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Bryson remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bryson 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 Bryson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brysons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, Georgia recorded the most babies named Bryson, while Vermont, Wyoming, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,541 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bryson
The name Bryson is an English given name that has its origins in the Old English language. It is believed to be derived from the Old English words "brysan" or "bryce," which mean "to break" or "to bruise." This suggests that the name might have originally been associated with someone who had a reputation for being a formidable fighter or warrior.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bryson can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of landowners in England compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The name appears in various spellings, such as "Briceson" and "Bricceson," indicating its longstanding presence in the English language.
While the name does not seem to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been borne by several notable individuals throughout history. One of the earliest known figures with this name was Bryson of Heraclea, a Greek mathematician and philosopher who lived in the 5th century BC. He is credited with being one of the first to calculate the circumference of the Earth.
Another famous Bryson was Lyman Bryson (1888-1959), an American author, educator, and public philosopher. He was a prominent figure in the field of adult education and served as the president of the American Institutions of Adult Education.
In the literary world, Bill Bryson (born 1951) is a well-known American author known for his humorous books on travel, language, and science. Some of his popular works include "A Walk in the Woods," "The Mother Tongue," and "A Short History of Nearly Everything."
The name has also been associated with notable athletes. Bryson DeChambeau (born 1993) is an American professional golfer who has won several PGA Tour events, including the 2020 U.S. Open.
Another prominent figure with the name Bryson was Bryson Tiller (born 1993), an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. His debut studio album, "Trapsoul," was a commercial success and earned him several Grammy nominations.
These are just a few examples of the diverse individuals who have borne the name Bryson throughout history, highlighting its enduring presence and adaptability across various fields and cultures.
People
Bryson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bryson 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
Bryson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bryson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 79,892 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bryson 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 4,290 US residents.
Is Bryson a common name?
We classify Bryson as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 81,069 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bryson most popular?
The single biggest year for Bryson was 2017, when 4,685 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bryson is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bryson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 58,586 people with the name Bryson, or 19.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #812 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 Bryson 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 Bryson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bryson appears almost entirely male. Of the 58,590 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 Bryson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bryson is White at 62.4%. The next largest groups are Black (20.2%) and Two or More Races (7.5%). 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 Bryson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bryson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.4% (36,549 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 Bryson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bryson a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Bryson 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 Bryson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bryson 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 Bryson 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 called Bryson?
You can see how many Americans are named Bryson on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.