Britten
Masculine · Old French roots
Britten is given to both — 529 boys and 354 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Britten is the surname of Benjamin Britten, the English composer of the opera Peter Grimes and the War Requiem, and as a given name it keeps that surname's crisp two-syllable shape. It leans toward boys but is given to girls too, and the two sides arrive by different roads.
How old is the name Britten?
Britten first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Britten alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 500 people named Britten are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Britten most popular?
Britten peaked in 1973, reaching #2857 nationally. See the whole 1973 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Breton, Briton (Old French) to Britten
The story of Britten
The surname was established long before it became a first name, and its best-known bearer is Benjamin Britten, born in Lowestoft in Suffolk, whose opera Peter Grimes made his name in 1945 and whose War Requiem was written for the consecration of the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral. For boys, Britten follows the long American habit of turning surnames into first names. For girls, it sits among the spellings of Brittany, Brittan and Britt. The record holds both under one spelling and does not say which road each child took.
Meaning
a Briton or a Breton (as a surname)
Britten is an English surname, a variant of Britton, which named a person from Brittany or a Briton. As a given name it has no separate meaning.
How the name formed
- Breton, BritonOld French
- BrittonEnglish surname
- Brittensurname
- Brittengiven name
Pronouncing Britten
BRIT-n
Two syllables, the second a light n, as in Britain.
Nicknames for Britten
Limited
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
- 1971
- Most boys named
- 200125 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2857reached in 1973
- Change vs 2020
- +25.0%10 in 2021, from 8
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.
Brittens among us
people named Britten 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
Britten 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
- A real surname with a distinguished bearer, the composer Benjamin Britten.
- Short and easy to say, with a clean two-syllable rhythm.
- Works for either sex, following both the surname tradition and the Brittany family.
- The name leans toward boys but not decisively, and because it sounds so close to Brittany a boy named Britten will often be assumed to be a girl. A girl with it will sometimes be assumed to be a boy.
- It will be spelled Britton, Brittan or Britain by people who hear it first.
- Anyone who knows classical music will think of the composer at once, an association most families will be glad of.
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Britten
Masculine · Old French roots
Frequently asked
- How many Brittens 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 Britten are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Britten in 2025?
- Britten is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Britten with classmates?
- Britten will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More B names
The most-given names starting with B, all years combined.
Brian#339 · Benjamin#11 · Brandon#261 · Bryan#336 · Bruce#536 · Billy#1068 · Bobby#1097 · Bradley#403
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Britten? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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