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The first name 
Bryan

Bryan is a first name typically given to boys, but in rare cases also used as a girls name.

Bryan – known and loved in the US!

The name Bryan isn’t among the current fashionable names in our top 10 stats, but nonetheless, it’s still very popular and common. In our SmartGenius ranking of all boys names, Bryan ranks 190. Recently, out of every 10,000 newborn boys, approximately 12 were named Bryan. In total, there are currently 381,761 people – children, adults and seniors – named Bryan living in the United States, which is approximately 0.11 % of the entire population.

You won't believe all there is 
to discover about the name
 
Bryan

What does the name 
Bryan mean?

Bryan is a name of Irish and Gaelic origin, derived from the name Brian. The name Brian is composed of two elements ‘brig’ meaning ‘high’ or ‘noble’ and ‘han’ meaning ‘chief’ or ‘leader’. Bryan can be thought of as meaning ‘noble leader’ or ‘high chief’.

Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, Bryan'... is a lyric poem by American poet Vachel Lindsay. It was written in 1919 and recounts the dramatic rise and fall of U.S. presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan during the 1896 presidential campaign.

Bryan -
from zero to hero

#42 - this is the highest position Bryan has ever reached. Not many names manage to reach such a high popularity in even one of the 140+ years of records. The last time Bryan reached this top spot at the end of the past century in 1977 when 7,934newborn boys were named Bryan. But as our statistics show, Bryan hasn't always been a popular name: in some years of record, most recently in the year 1891, it was given to newborns not at all or at least less than 5 times (a name is only included in the official statistics only if it is given at least 5 times in a year). Nevertheless, the name Bryan has accompanied people in this country for a long time. It turns out that this name fits very well in our modern times. From zero to hero – even if its peak is in the past, Bryan has become a fashionable name after all.

In years where the graph has no value, the name Bryan was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.

The first name Bryan withstands the modern trends of the 21st century

In 2022, 1,167 newborn boys were given the name Bryan, making this first name #282. Towards the end of the last century, the name had a real flight of fancy and still captivates many people today − just like the music of the 80s. So, the chances to meet a young Bryan are still quite high.

Bryan -
well known in all states of the USA, most popular in Nevada

There are only 386 different male names registered in every single state in the U.S., and Bryan is one of them. However, Bryan is not equally widespread in all states, but people in Nevada seem to particularly fancy this name – the 2,309 men called Bryan who live here are 0,408% of all male residents and push their name up to #58 in our SmartGenius statistics, easily placing it in the top 100 most common male names in Nevada. If you look at all the states in the USA together, you can currently find as many as 381,761 people with the name Bryan. Across all regions and age groups, this lands Bryan on position 81 in our SmartGenius ranking of the top male names – of course, the current popularity as a baby name for newborns looks somewhat different, as you can see from the statistics above.

Bryan has 5 letters 
and begins with a B

Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The letter B is neither particularly common nor particularly rare as a first letter for boys' names: 4.2% of all common boys' names in the US begin with this letter. The most common first letters of boys' names are J and A, while X and U are the least common initials of boys' names.

With five letters, the name Bryan is comparatively short. In fact, 17.0% of all common first names in the US consist of exactly five letters. Only 7% of all first names are even shorter, while 75% have more than five letters. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long. There are no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.

Thus, it follows that if 4.2% of all boys' names start with a B, this initial letter occurs about as often as all 26 letters on average. And maybe interesting to know: Brian is the boys’ name starting with B, which is the most common of all.

Other names with 
B, r, y, a and n

If you take all the letters in the name Bryan – B, r, y, a and n – and put them together again, you can form other names, such as Brayn or others.

With hands, flags and sounds 
How to say Bryan

If your name is Bryan and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...

This is how you spell the name Bryan

So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Bryan, you can simply say:

Butterfly

Rocket

Yoyo

Apple

Nut

This is how the name Bryan is spelled in the NATO phonetic alphabet

The NATO alphabet often helps people spell words on the phone or radio when there are communication problems.

How do you write Bryan in Braille?

Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.

Bryan

Bryan

You want to tell a deaf person that your name is Bryan

Just use American Sign Language!

The name Bryan is particularly colorful in the Semaphore flag signaling system!

These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.

B
R
Y
A
N

Have you ever waved the name Bryan

In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.

B
R
Y
A
N

Beeping like crazy...

In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Bryan sounds like this: