Brian vs Britton
American parents have registered 1,178,298 Brians since 1880, against 8,293 Brittons. Brian is still ahead, with 979 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Brian Britton
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
Of the 117 years in which either name was published, Brian for 116 years and Britton for 1 year. The lead changed hands once.
Side by side
| Brian | Britton | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,178,298 | 8,293 |
| Most in one year | 36,477 | 216 |
| Babies in 2025 | 979 | 70 |
| Estimated living today | 1 million | 7,700 |
| Median age today | 48 | 25 |
| Peak year | 1972 | 2006 |
| Best rank | 8th boys | 1,132nd boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 339th | 2,765th |
| First recorded | 1909 | 1896 |
| Girls / boys | 4,563 / 1,173,735 | 1,956 / 6,337 |
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 Brittons are over 25. That is 23 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Brian New Hampshire (1.6×), Delaware (1.5×), Vermont (1.5×)
- Britton Utah (10.8×), Texas (3.5×), Tennessee (2.8×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Brian and Britton.