girl's name
Brianna
bree-AN-uh
- Origin Irish
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 3
- Letters 7
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 281,339
the United States
#222
2025 births
Brianna is a girl's name, the feminine of Brian, whose Irish meaning has never been securely established. It charts in all seven markets we track and peaked in 2000 — the latest peak of any name in this group.
- Brianna is a name of Irish origin.
- Peaked in 2000, when 12,898 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 2,416 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1963.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Brianna over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1960s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1960s | 82 |
| 1970s | 1,639 |
| 1980s | 17,172 |
| 1990s | 99,269 |
| 2000s | 99,978 |
| 2010s | 36,965 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 10,132 |
What Brianna means
Brianna is usually given as noble or high, inherited from Brian. The Old Irish element behind Brian is not securely identified, so both readings are proposals rather than facts.
Where Brianna comes from
Brianna is a modern feminine of Brian, formed in America in the twentieth century rather than inherited from Irish. Brian's own derivation is genuinely unresolved: proposals include an element meaning high or noble, one meaning a hill, and one meaning strength, and none works cleanly. The name that fixed the masculine is Brian Boru, high king of Ireland, killed at Clontarf in 1014. Brianna and the variant Breanna rose together through the 1980s and 90s as part of a broader fashion for -anna endings, alongside Deanna, Shauna and Rhianna.
Brianna in use
Brianna peaked in the United States in 2000, when 12,898 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It charts in all seven markets — 222nd in the United States on 1,372 births, 281st in Northern Ireland, 308th in Canada, 329th in Scotland on 11, 375th in Ireland on 11, 537th in England and Wales on 75 and 806th in France on 50 — across 281,339 lifetime births. Our records carry it only from 1963, so its entire history fits in sixty years.
How popular is Brianna?
In 2025, Brianna was given to 1,372 babies in the United States, ranking #222 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Brianna is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Brianna
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Brianna also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Brianna over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Brianna
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Brianna in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- German
- Briana
Sibling names for Brianna
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Brianna — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Brianna
What does the name Brianna mean?
Usually noble or high, inherited from Brian — though Brian's own Old Irish element is not securely identified.
Is Brianna an Irish name?
Indirectly. Brian is Irish, but Brianna is a modern American feminine rather than a name used in Irish.
Is it Brianna or Breanna?
Both are used and rose together; Brianna is the more common spelling in our data.
How popular is Brianna?
222nd in the United States, and it charts in all six markets we track.
Is Brianna a girl's or a boy's name?
Brianna is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Brianna?
Brianna has 3 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Brianna?
Brianna is usually shortened to Bri and Anna.
Is Brianna a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Brianna currently ranks #222 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.