Bryant
A surname that most often means “son of Bryan,” with Bryan itself an old Celtic personal name.
The #128 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 1,602 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Bryant is generally treated as a patronymic form of Bryan, with the added -t seen in some medieval spellings and later surname forms. The sources point to Bryant as essentially “the son of Bryan,” and Bryan itself is an old Celtic personal name, often explained in older works as meaning something like “noble,” “high,” or “chief.” In some records the name also appears through Norman-French forms such as Briand or Briant.
History
The surname is long established in England and is well represented in medieval and later records, especially in southern and western counties. It spread widely in the English-speaking world, and by the modern period it became common in North America as well. A few older writers proposed different or more speculative explanations, but the patronymic derivation from Bryan is the standard one.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some 19th-century surname books explicitly note that the final -t in Bryant is “excrescent,” meaning it was added in spelling without changing the underlying name.
From the historical record
“character. The d in Brammald is, ofcou rse, excrescent ; cf Simrnonds for Simmons, Bryant for Bryan. The form Broomhall is a reminis- cence of firomale, as already stated, an early spelling.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances