Brigit
Feminine · “The exalted one”
One tradition says the bishop who received Brigid's vows read the wrong text over her and consecrated her a bishop by mistake, and that when it was pointed out he declined to undo it. The story is medieval, it is repeated by more than one source, and nobody has ever quite explained why it exists.
How old is the name Brigit?
Brigit first appears in US birth records in 1954 — 71 years ago. The typical Brigit alive today was born around 1989, making them about 36 years old. About 1,200 people named Brigit are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Brigit most popular?
Brigit peaked in 1976, reaching #1936 nationally. See the whole 1976 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Brigit to Brigit
The story of Brigit
The other thing everybody knows about her is made every year out of rushes. A Brigid's cross is woven from green rushes gathered on the last day of January, four arms of plaited stalks around a woven square, hung over a door and replaced the following year with a new one, the old one burned. It is a genuinely living practice rather than a revived one, it was carried by Irish emigrants everywhere they went, and the shape was familiar enough in the twentieth century to be used as the logo of Ireland's national broadcaster for decades. A saint who may or may not have been a goddess is remembered by an object that has to be made from scratch every February and cannot be bought as an heirloom.
Meaning
The exalted one
The Old Irish is read as high or exalted, and it was a title before it was a name; a goddess of the same name is attested in Irish tradition, and how much of her attached to the saint has been argued about for two centuries. What is not in doubt is the sense of the word itself, which is one of the more secure Irish etymologies there is.
How the name formed
- Brigit
- Brighid
- Bridget
Related forms: Brighid · Birgitta · Brigitte · Brigida
Pronouncing Brigit
BRIJ-it
Two syllables with the stress at the front. This spelling is the oldest of the English forms and drops the d that the standard modern spelling inserted; the d was never in the Irish and is an English addition.
Nicknames for Brigit
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
- 1954
- Most girls named
- 197435 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1936reached in 1976
- Change vs 2020
- −16.7%5 in 2021, 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.
Brigit in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Brighid in Irish — same name
- Birgitta in Swedish — same name
- Brigitte in French — same name
- Brigida in Italian — same name
Brigits among us
people named Brigit are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Brigit sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is the older and more accurate spelling of a name that most people only meet in its modern form.
- Recognizable across Irish, Swedish, French and Italian with only small changes.
- Three short forms from three different countries, all sounding quite unalike.
- Bridget is the standard English spelling and this one will be corrected constantly.
- It will also be read as Brigitte and given a French pronunciation.
- The name carries a strong Irish association that a family may or may not want stated.
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What they receive
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Brigit
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Brigits are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Brigit are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Brigit in 2025?
- Brigit is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Brigit with classmates?
- Brigit will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More B names
The most-given names starting with B, all years combined.
Barbara#968 · Betty#1113 · Brenda#1525 · Beverly#1016 · Brittany#928 · Bonnie#396 · Brianna#222 · Bertha#4546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Brigit? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Brigit and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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