Brian Boy
How popular is Brian?
#339 boy name in 2025
979 baby boys were named Brian in the US in 2025, making it the 339th most popular boy name.
Brian popularity over time
Boys Girls
| Rank in 2025 | #339 for boys (▼ 37 from 2024) |
|---|---|
| Babies in 2025 | 979 boys |
| 10-year trend | Falling fast (-56% babies vs 2015) |
| Earlier ranks | #188 in 2015, #271 in 2020 |
| Peak year | 1972 (36,306 boys) |
| Highest rank | #8 in 1970 (7 years at that rank) |
| First recorded | 1909 |
| Boys vs girls (last 10 years) | 100% boys, 0% girls |
| Chance a classmate shares it | 0.7% in a class of 25 kids born in 2025 |
Brian counting every spelling
Social Security counts each spelling as its own name. Adding together the spellings that sound alike, the Bryan family of names ranked #194 for boys in 2025 (#179 the year before), with 2,017 babies in all.
Spellings are grouped by how they sound, using our own rules, so a few groupings may not match how your family says the name.
Where Brian is most popular
Babies named Brian per 1,000 boys born in each state, 2021 to 2025. Darker means more common.
- Delaware: 1.6 per 1,000 (24 boys)
- Massachusetts: 1.1 per 1,000 (156 boys)
- West Virginia: 1.1 per 1,000 (36 boys)
- New Jersey: 1.1 per 1,000 (219 boys)
- District of Columbia: 1.1 per 1,000 (16 boys)
Brian by decade
| Decade | Baby boys | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 5 | #1,439 |
| 1910s | 116 | #1,386 |
| 1920s | 566 | #557 |
| 1930s | 3,173 | #176 |
| 1940s | 22,793 | #86 |
| 1950s | 112,336 | #22 |
| 1960s | 258,129 | #9 |
| 1970s | 322,660 | #8 |
| 1980s | 233,993 | #12 |
| 1990s | 119,309 | #27 |
| 2000s | 69,775 | #43 |
| 2010s | 24,107 | #101 |
| 2020s | 6,773 | #271 |
Boy names about as popular as Brian
Questions
- Is Brian a boy or girl name?
- Brian is mostly a boy name. Over the last 10 years, 100% of babies named Brian were boys.
- How popular is the name Brian?
- 979 baby boys were named Brian in the US in 2025, making it the 339th most popular boy name.
- When was Brian most popular?
- Brian peaked in 1972, when 36,306 boys were given the name. Its highest rank was #8, held for 7 years starting in 1970.
- How many people are named Brian?
- 1,178,298 babies have been named Brian in the US since 1880. We estimate about 1,040,490 of them are alive in 2026, with a median age of 49.
- Where is Brian most popular?
- From 2021 to 2025, Brian was most common in Delaware, at 1.6 of every 1,000 boys born there.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880 to 2025 (names given to at least 5 babies of a sex in a year). Living-people and median-age figures are our estimates using US life tables. How we calculate.