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Brien

Gender
Boy
Say it
BRY-an
Origin
Irish
US rank, 2025
#9,710 for boys

Brien is a boys' name of Irish origin. In 2025 it ranked 9,710th for boys in the US (7 babies).

What does Brien mean?

Irish: spelling of Brian

An Irish spelling of Brian, as borne by Brian Boru, the High King killed at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014.

Is Brien a girl's or a boy's name?

Brien is a boys' name. In 2025, it was given to 7 boys in the US. Too few girls were given it to be listed.

How popular is Brien in the US?

Rank in 2025
9,710th among boys
Babies in 2025
7 about 1 in 240,000 boys
Five-year trend
Too rare to call too few babies to tell
Same name in a class
under 1% chance among 15 boys

In 2025, 7 boys in the US were named Brien, making it the 9,710th most popular name for boys. Five years earlier, in 2020, it was 9,548th. Its busiest year was 1963, with 99 boys. It first appears in the records in 1925.

2025 had more boys named Brien than any year since 2020.

Half of all the boys named Brien in the US since 1880 were born between 1963 and 1988, the years shaded on the chart below.

In 2025, 2,359 boys in the US were given Brien or a name that sounds the same. With every name's spellings counted this way, that ranks #174, up from #9,710 for this spelling alone.

1925Busiest: 99 in 19632025
Brien in the US, year by year
YearBoysRank
20257#9,710
20246#10,930
20230–
20220–
20215#12,141
20207#9,548
20190–
201811#7,132
201712#6,681
20167#9,659
20159#8,035
20146#10,711
201313#6,236
201213#6,300
20119#8,072
201012#6,692
200913#6,432
200811#7,182
200723#4,241
200624#3,998
200527#3,524
200423#3,855
200333#2,918
200236#2,628
200125#3,405
200030#2,916
199949#1,963
199825#3,089
199746#1,961
199644#1,982
199548#1,796
199454#1,659
199340#2,002
199262#1,467
199141#1,889
199052#1,582
198957#1,447
198861#1,315
198748#1,482
198648#1,438
198568#1,124
198450#1,319
198365#1,107
198261#1,178
198169#1,095
198074#1,047
197961#1,154
197866#1,066
197747#1,312
197657#1,123
197568#994
197469#988
197381#885
197269#976
197187#873
197084#881
196997#782
196889#784
196789#774
196685#785
196570#873
196482#839
196399#766
196271#901
196193#789
196071#896
195976#874
195872#888
195769#912
195653#1,031
195541#1,166
195440#1,185
195334#1,279
195240#1,165
195126#1,461
195027#1,394
194925#1,461
194814#2,026
194717#1,849
194617#1,758
194513#1,925
194413#1,987
19437#2,962
194210#2,385
19417#2,871
19400–
193911#2,159
19380–
19370–
19360–
19350–
19340–
19337#3,003
19320–
19310–
19300–
19290–
19280–
19270–
19265#4,199
19255#4,195

Names like Brien

Names given in the same years and the same naming tradition, with a similar sound.

Kevin, Keenan, Brennan, Ryan, Keegan, Devin, Conan, Brayden, Braden, Brandon, Brendan, Casey

Other spellings of Brien

Bryan, Brian, Brayan, Bryon, Brion, Brallan

Names related to Brien

Bruin, Breon, Beren, Bren, Breion, Bryen

More Irish names

Oscar, Rowan, Rory, Maeve, Finn, Aiden, Nolan, Quinn, Orla, Cody, Erin, Ronan, Connor, Declan, Kennedy, Callan

Every Irish name

Sources

Figures from Popular Baby Names (US Social Security Administration). Nameling last updated them on 20 October 2026. How the figures are worked out, and the data to download.

To cite this page: Nameling, “Brien: name meaning, origin and popularity”, https://www.nameling.co.uk/names/brien, updated 20 October 2026.