Pronunciation | /ˈbraɪ.ən/ |
---|---|
Gender | Male |
Origin | |
Word/name | Irish; Breton |
Meaning | possibly "high" or "noble" |
Region of origin | Ireland; Brittany |
Other names | |
Related names | Breanna, Breanne, Brianna, Brianne, Brien, Brion, Brina, Bryan, Bryant |
Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, [1] as well as a surname of Occitan origin. [2] It is common in the English-speaking world.
It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word meaning "high" or "noble". [1] For example, the element bre means "hill"; which could be transferred to mean "eminence" or "exalted one". [2] The name is quite popular in Ireland, on account of Brian Boru, a 10th-century High King of Ireland. The name was also quite popular in East Anglia during the Middle Ages. This is because the name was introduced to England by Bretons following the Norman Conquest. [1] Bretons also settled in Ireland along with the Normans in the 12th century, and 'their' name was mingled with the 'Irish' version. [2] Also, in the north-west of England, the 'Irish' name was introduced by Scandinavian settlers from Ireland. Within the Gaelic speaking areas of Scotland, the name was at first only used by professional families of Irish origin. [1]
It was the fourth most popular male name in England and Wales in 1934, but a sharp decline followed over the remainder of the 20th century and by 1994 it had fallen out of the top 100. [3] It retained its popularity in the United States for longer; its most popular period there was from 1968 to 1979 when it consistently ranked between eighth and tenth. The name has become increasingly popular in South America, particularly Argentina and Uruguay, since the early 1990s.
The surname Brian is sometimes an English and Irish variant spelling of the surname Bryan . The English and French surname Brian is sometimes derived from the Celtic personal name shown above. The surname Brian can also sometimes be a French surname; derived from the Old Occitan word brian, meaning "maggot" and used as a nickname. [2]
Variants of the name include Briant, Brien, Bran, Brion, Bryan, Bryant, Brjánn (in Icelandic) and Bryon. [4] Variant spellings such as "Brien" are sometimes used as female given names, especially among members of the Irish diaspora. [5]
In Latin America, the phonetic spelling “Brayan” is often used, associated with working-class parents aspiring to a higher socioeconomic status associated with Anglo-American culture, and mocked for that reason on social media. [6] [7]
Films and television shows which contain the name Brian include:
Mike is a masculine given name. It is also encountered as a short form of Michael. Notable people with the name include:
Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey.
Doyle is a surname of Irish origin. The name is a back-formation from O'Doyle, which is an Anglicisation of the Irish Ó Dubhghaill, meaning "descendant of Dubhghall". There is another possible etymology: the Anglo-Norman surname D'Oyley with agglutination of the French article de. It means 'from Ouilly', the name of a knight who originated from one of the places named Ouilly in Normandy, such as Ouilly-le-Tesson, Ouilly-le-Vicomte, etc. The relationship with the family D'Oyly is unknown.
Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen.
Kenny is a surname, a given name, and a diminutive of several different given names.
Anderson is a surname deriving from a patronymic meaning "son of Ander/Andrew".
Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common.
Darren is a masculine given name of uncertain etymological origins. Some theories state that it originated from an Anglicisation of the Irish first name Darragh or Dáire, meaning "Oak Tree". According to other sources, it is thought to come from the Gaelic surname meaning ‘great’, but is also linked to a Welsh mountain named Moel Darren. It is also believed to be a variant of Darrell, which originated from the French surname D'Airelle, meaning "of Airelle". The common spelling of Darren is found in the Welsh language, meaning "edge": Black Darren and Red Darren are found on the eastern side of the Hatterrall Ridge, west of Long Town. In New Zealand, the Darran Mountains exist as a spur of the Southern Alps in the south of the country.
Paul is a common Latin masculine given name in countries and ethnicities with a Christian heritage and, beyond Europe, in Christian religious communities throughout the world. Paul – or its variations – can be a given name or surname.
The surname Wolfe may refer to:
Andy, also spelled Andi, Andie or Andee, is predominantly a diminutive version of the male given name Andrew, and variants of it such as Andreas and Andrei. The form of the variation is based on the Scottish "-ie" diminutive ending. Andrew is derived from the Greek name Andreas, meaning "manlike" or "brave". Andy is also occasionally used as a diminutive for the female given name Andrea.
Anthony, also spelled Antony, is a masculine given name derived from the Antonii, a gens to which Mark Antony belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, a son of Heracles. Anthony is an English name that is in use in many countries. It has been among the top 100 most popular male baby names in the United States since the late 19th century and has been among the top 100 male baby names between 1998 and 2018 in many countries including Canada, Australia, England, Ireland and Scotland.
Glenn is a given name and a surname.
Sweeney is a surname that is of Irish origin, derived from the Gaelic Mac Suibhne meaning "son of Suibhne". The Gaelic personal name Suibhne was originally a byname meaning "pleasant" or "well-disposed" and is associated with Clan Sweeney.
Burke is a Norman-Irish surname, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh had the surname de Burgh, which was gaelicised in Irish as de Búrca and over the centuries became Búrc, then Burke, and Bourke.
Tom is mostly used as a diminutive of Thomas. In Germanic countries and Scandinavia, "Tom" is in use as a formal given name. In modern Hebrew, the name Tom is used as a unisex name, with the meaning of "innocence, naivety, simplicity" or "the end.”
Bryan is a masculine given name. It is a variant spelling of the masculine given name Brian.