Humanverse

Brian vs Brixleigh

American parents have registered 1,178,298 Brians since 1880, against 62 Brixleighs. Brian is still ahead, with 979 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Brian against Brixleigh, 1880 to 2025 0 10k 20k 30k 40k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Brian Brixleigh

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Brian has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1909 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2020, when Brian had 1,261 and Brixleigh had 19.

Side by side

  Brian Brixleigh
Total US births 1,178,29862
Most in one year 36,47719
Babies in 2025 9796
Estimated living today 1 million60
Median age today 484
Peak year 19722020
Best rank 8th boys6,083rd girls
Rank in 2025 339th13,208th
First recorded 19092020
Girls / boys 4,563 / 1,173,73562 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Brians alive today are over 48; half the Brixleighs are over 4. That is 44 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Brian and Brixleigh.