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Girl · Irish (modern feminine)
Brianna
Say it: bree-AN-uh
Meaning
A modern feminine of Brian, an Irish name of uncertain origin, possibly from Old Celtic brig 'high, noble'.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
Rare until the 1970s, it entered the US top 20 in the late 1990s.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 2000s
In the United States
- 256,873 babies given this name since 1963
- At its height in 2000, about 1 in 141 girls
- 1,859 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Breanna, Briana, Bryanna
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.