Bryan

Bryan is an anglicized spelling variant of the Old Celtic name Brian, derived from a root meaning high, noble, or strong. The name became widely used in the British Isles largely through the legacy of the Irish high king Brian Boru, who defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. Bryan, Brian, and the Breton form Brieuc all trace back to the same ancient root, and the name spread further in America and other English-speaking countries during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, in part through figures such as the American politician William Jennings Bryan.