Brighid
Feminine · “exalted one”
Brighid is the Irish spelling, and the gh in the middle is the thing to know: Irish writes it and does not say it. The letters mark a consonant that softened away centuries ago, leaving a long vowel behind, so the name is two syllables and the g never surfaces. Behind it is a figure who was a goddess before she was a saint, and who may have been both at once for a while.
How old is the name Brighid?
Brighid first appears in US birth records in 1975 — 50 years ago. The typical Brighid alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 500 people named Brighid are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Brighid most popular?
Brighid peaked in 1991, reaching #4808 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 8,400 places below that high. See the whole 1991 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Brigit to Brighid
The story of Brighid
Brigid appears in Irish mythology as a goddess associated with poetry, smithcraft and healing, one of the Tuatha Dé Danann. She also appears in history as an abbess of Kildare in the fifth or sixth century, founder of one of Ireland's great monasteries and one of the country's three patron saints. How much of one became the other is argued about seriously and cannot be settled — the feast day, the fire kept burning at Kildare, and several of the stories sit uneasily between them. The name has been in continuous Irish use ever since, and the Irish-language spelling is the one that keeps its shape intact.
Meaning
exalted one, high one
From the Old Irish Brigit, generally read from a root meaning high or exalted — the same root behind the word for strength or vigor. It was a title as much as a name, which is one of the reasons it attached so easily to a goddess.
How the name formed
- Brigit
- Brighid
- Bridget
Related forms: Bríd · Bridget · Brìghde · Brigitte · Birgitta
Pronouncing Brighid
BREE-id
Two syllables, stress on the first. The gh is silent — it marks a sound that disappeared from Irish long ago, leaving the long vowel that swallowed it. English readers who try to say the g produce something no Irish speaker would recognize.
Nicknames for Brighid
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1975
- Most girls named
- 200425 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4808reached in 1991
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%6 in 2025, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Brighid in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Bríd in Irish — same name
- Bridget in English — same name
- Brìghde in Scottish Gaelic — same name
- Brigitte in French — same name
- Birgitta in Swedish — same name
Brighids among us
people named Brighid are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Brighid
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Luma test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Brighid's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Luma climbed just as high around 1918, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Luma's path sketches the road Brighid is walking now.
Brighid sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Brighid beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Brighid in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is the authentic Irish spelling, with a documented mythological and historical figure behind it.
- Bríd and Bree are both available, one traditional and one entirely current.
- The meaning is short and strong and takes two words to give.
- The name has been in continuous use for at least fifteen hundred years.
- The gh defeats English readers on sight, and the correction is required in every new room.
- Bridget is the standard English spelling and will be substituted on nearly everything.
- The old diminutive Biddy carries an unkind sense in English and is worth avoiding.
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What they receive
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Brighid
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Brighids are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Brighid are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Brighid in 2025?
- Brighid ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Brighid?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Brighid — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Brighid with classmates?
- Brighid will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Brighid
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Artha#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Brighid? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Brighid and another name?
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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