Bryn
Feminine · “hill”
Bryn is given to both — 7,532 girls and 1,329 boys since 1880. See Bryn as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Bryn is a hill in Welsh — one syllable, one word, and in Wales it is a man's name.
How old is the name Bryn?
Bryn first appears in US birth records in 1949 — 76 years ago. The typical Bryn alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 7,400 people named Bryn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Bryn most popular?
Bryn peaked in 2011, reaching #744 nationally. Today it ranks #2017, 1,273 places below that high. See the whole 2011 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From bryn to Bryn
The story of Bryn
Bryn Mawr means 'great hill' in Welsh, and the Pennsylvania town and its college were named by Welsh Quaker settlers who had brought their place names with them. The college opened in 1885 and made the sound feminine in American ears. Bryn appears in the American registers as a girls' name in current use.
Meaning
hill, mound
From the Welsh bryn, 'hill'. It is ordinary Welsh vocabulary and appears throughout Welsh place names. In Wales it is a masculine given name; American use is predominantly feminine, largely by association with Bryn Mawr. The Welsh is undisputed.
How the name formed
- bryn
- Bryn
Related forms: Bryn · Brynn · Brynne
Pronouncing Bryn
BRIN
One syllable. Bryn and Brynn are homophones; only the spelling differs.
Nicknames for Bryn
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
- 1949
- Most girls named
- 2011370 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #744reached in 2011
- Change vs 2023
- +1.1%94 in 2025, from 93
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.
Bryn in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Bryn in Welsh — same name
- Brynn in English — spelling variant
- Brynne in Welsh — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Pennsylvania, Texas, California.
Bryns among us
people named Bryn are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 17,099 born in 2025 was named Bryn
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Bryn
- #2017
- Bryn on the 2025 chart
- #353
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Bryn went to 94 girls in 2025, but Brynn and Brinn are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 870, which makes it the 353rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,664 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 1,847 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 17,099 for Bryn itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Kandi test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Bryn's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kandi climbed just as high around 1970, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kandi's path sketches the road Bryn is walking now.
Bryn 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
Where Bryn is headed
Bryn is easing off slowly — about 16% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Bryn beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Bryn in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The hill meaning is concrete, ordinary Welsh and entirely undisputed.
- That an American women's college made a Welsh man's name feminine is a first-rate story.
- One syllable, clean, and never mispronounced.
- In Wales it is a masculine name, which travelers will notice.
- Brynn with two n's is commoner in American use.
- It is very short and can be swallowed by a long surname.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Bryn
Feminine · #2017 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Bryns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,400 people named Bryn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Bryn?
- Bryn is one of 3 recorded spellings. Brynn is the more common one — 767 births in 2025 against 94 for Bryn.
- How popular is the name Bryn in 2025?
- Bryn ranks #2017 among US girl names in 2025, with 94 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Bryn?
- About 1 in every 17,099 US girls born in 2025 was named Bryn — 94 in all.
- Will my child share the name Bryn with classmates?
- Bryn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Bryn
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Goldy#2017 · Melodie#2017 · Naima#2017 · Kylani#2017 · Kamilah#2017 · Diamond#2017 · Alyna#2017 · Zion#2017
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Bryn? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Bryn and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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