Humanverse

Bryan vs Bryceson

American parents have registered 391,306 Bryans since 1880, against 506 Brycesons. Bryan is still ahead, with 1,005 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Bryan against Bryceson, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Bryan Bryceson

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

Bryan has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1883 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2015, when Bryan had 2,492 and Bryceson had 34.

Side by side

  Bryan Bryceson
Total US births 391,306506
Most in one year 8,78834
Babies in 2025 1,0055
Estimated living today 355,000500
Median age today 3914
Peak year 19852015
Best rank 48th boys3,299th boys
Rank in 2025 336th12,008th
First recorded 18831985
Girls / boys 1,717 / 389,5890 / 506

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 Bryans alive today are over 39; half the Brycesons are over 14. That is 25 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: Bryan and Bryceson.