Bryan
An old Celtic personal name, later adopted as a surname, often understood to mean “high” or “noble.”
The #585 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 5,403 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Bryan is best understood as a surname formed from the personal name Brian/Bryan, rather than from a place or occupation. Nineteenth-century writers often connected the name with a very old Celtic root meaning something like “high,” “noble,” or “chieftain,” though the exact philological pathway is not fully certain. Some old sources also note the Latinized form Angevinus in medieval records, but the surname itself is most commonly treated as deriving from the given name Brian.
History
The name appears early in England and Ireland, and medieval records show families of Bryan seated in places such as Devon, Dorset, and South Wales. One notable bearer was Sir Guy Bryan, Lord Bryan and a standard-bearer at Calais in the reign of Edward III. The related form Bryant developed as a common surname as well.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower specifically describes Bryan as a Celtic name of great antiquity, and later English spelling often added a final -t in the related form Bryant.
From the historical record
“Latinized form of Angevinus. BRYAN. The signification of this name is given in the dictionary. The family ■were seated, from a very early period, at Tor-Bryan, co. Devon; as also at Lang- herne, in South Wales, and Woodford Castle, CO. Dorset. Of this family -n-as the chivalrous Sir Guy Bryan, Lord Bryan, K.G.…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom