Brianna

Brianna is a feminization of the classic Irish boys’ name, Brian. It shares the same meaning as Brian—strong and virtuous.

There are only a few famous people who sport the name, since it’s a relatively new-ish favorite (though Briana was featured all the way back in Edmund Spenser’s the Faerie Queen). There’s CNN correspondent Brianna Keilar, Deadpool actress Brianna Hildebrand, wrestler Brie Bella (Brianna Garcia). Briana appears in Book Six of Edmund Spenser’s epic poem, the Faerie Queen, while Brienne of Tarth, a fierce and honorable protector, plays a prominent role in the Game of Thrones series and the Songs of Fire and Ice book series they’re based on.

You’ll find a few variations on the name, such as Briana or Brienne. Other names that share Brianna’s meaning, strong, include Adira, Anders, Andre, Andrea, Andrew, Bernard, Drew, Drusilla, Ethan, Griffin, Hamza, Issa, Kenzo, Melisande, Millicent, Takeshi, and Valenciana. If you like the idea of a name that means “virtuous,” there are a few other names you can choose from—Aretha and Ebrar.

Brianna didn’t really come into fashion until the 1970s, when it first rose above the top 1000. Its heyday was the mid 1990s to the mid 2000s, when it was in the top 20 here in the U.S. It’s currently dropping into the mid-100s.

Brianna in quotes:

Brianna is a baby name that doesn’t have too many quotes associated with it.

“All my life men like you have sneered at me, and all my life I’ve been knocking men like you into the dust.” —Brienne of Tarth, Game of Thrones