Brian
Brian is ranked 301st among boys in 2024 (1,111 births). Its best rank was 8th, in 1970, 1972–1977.
- Rank in 2024
- #301up 16 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 1,1110.06% of boys
- Peak year
- 197236,309 births
- Best rank
- #8first in 1970
- Since 1909
- 1,177,325people given the name
The story in the numbers
1,172,762 boys have been named Brian in the United States since 1909, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1972, with 36,309 births — 2.2% of all boys recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 1,111 births in 2024, against 36,309 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1975, and the 1970s alone account for 28%. It has spent 99 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 63 of them in the top 100 and 13 in the top 10.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 4,563 girls have also been given it, 0.39% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Brian | |
|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 5 | |
| 1910s | 116 | |
| 1920s | 566 | |
| 1930s | 3,173 | |
| 1940s | 22,794 | |
| 1950s | 112,336 | |
| 1960s | 258,119 | |
| 1970s | 322,694 | |
| 1980s | 233,997 | |
| 1990s | 119,303 | |
| 2000s | 69,771 | |
| 2010s | 24,100 | |
| 2020s | 5,788 |
In 1972, its biggest year
Brian was the 8th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1972 were Michael, Christopher, James, David and John. See all of 1972.
Names that rose and fell with Brian
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Bryonpeak 1970
- Brentpeak 1970
- Jeffereypeak 1969
- Taddpeak 1985
- Ericpeak 1970
- Lancepeak 1970
- Scottypeak 1971
- Corbypeak 1973
Other spellings in the data
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.