Humanverse

Brian vs Brittanya

American parents have registered 1,178,298 Brians since 1880, against 128 Brittanyas. Brian is still ahead, with 979 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Brian against Brittanya, 1880 to 2025 0 10k 20k 30k 40k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Brian Brittanya

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Brian has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1909 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2009, when Brian had 4,664 and Brittanya had 26.

Side by side

  Brian Brittanya
Total US births 1,178,298128
Most in one year 36,47726
Babies in 2025 979under 5
Estimated living today 1 million130
Median age today 4816
Peak year 19722009
Best rank 8th boys5,378th girls
Rank in 2025 339thunranked
First recorded 19091980
Girls / boys 4,563 / 1,173,735128 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Brians alive today are over 48; half the Brittanyas are over 16. That is 32 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Brian and Brittanya.