boy's name
Bryce
BRYSE
- Origin Scottish
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 1
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 134,997
the United States
#357
2025 births
Bryce means speckled or freckled, from a Gaulish saint's name whose meaning is not certain. Bryce Canyon is named after a Mormon settler, not the other way round, and it is not a canyon.
- Bryce is a name of Scottish origin.
- Peaked in 2000, when 4,437 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 3,332 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1908.
- 1 syllable, with the stress on syllable 1.
Bryce over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1900s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 11 |
| 1910s | 279 |
| 1920s | 872 |
| 1930s | 703 |
| 1940s | 846 |
| 1950s | 1,526 |
| 1960s | 1,942 |
| 1970s | 4,384 |
| 1980s | 10,506 |
| 1990s | 27,733 |
| 2000s | 40,911 |
| 2010s | 29,867 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 8,115 |
What Bryce means
Bryce is usually read as speckled or freckled, though the Gaulish name behind it has no established derivation and the reading is a proposal rather than a translation.
Where Bryce comes from
Bryce descends from Saint Brice of Tours, a fifth-century bishop whose Gaulish name Bricius has no secure derivation — speckled or freckled is the reading usually offered, from a Celtic root. He was the difficult successor to Saint Martin, accused of misconduct, exiled, and eventually restored. The name became a Scottish surname and then an American given name in the twentieth century. Bryce Canyon takes its name from Ebenezer Bryce, a settler, and is technically not a canyon at all but a series of amphitheatres eroded from a plateau edge.
Bryce in use
Bryce peaked in the United States in 2000, when 4,437 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 357th in the United States on 995 births, 569th in Scotland on 5 and 2202nd in England and Wales on 11, across 134,997 lifetime births in four of the seven markets we track. Our records carry it from 1908.
How popular is Bryce?
In 2025, Bryce was given to 995 babies in the United States, ranking #357 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Bryce 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 Bryce
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Bryce also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Bryce over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Bryce 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.
Sibling names for Bryce
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Bryce — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Bryce
What does the name Bryce mean?
Usually read as speckled or freckled, though the Gaulish name behind it has no established derivation.
Is Bryce Canyon named after the name?
After Ebenezer Bryce, a settler — and it is not actually a canyon, but eroded amphitheatres.
Is it Bryce or Brice?
Brice is closer to the saint's name; Bryce is the more common modern spelling.
How popular is Bryce?
357th in the United States, down from a 2000 peak of 4,319 births.
Is Bryce a girl's or a boy's name?
Bryce is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Bryce?
Bryce has 1 syllable.
Is Bryce a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Bryce currently ranks #357 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.