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.

The English and French surname Brian is sometimes derived from the Celtic personal name shown above.

[2] Variants of the name include Briant, Brien, Bran, Brion, Bryan, Bryant, Brjánn (in Icelandic) and Bryon.

[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.