Brian

Brian came to Ireland with the tenth-century high king Brian Boru, who repelled the Vikings at Clontarf and stamped his name permanently into the Irish imagination. The root may mean "high" or "noble," from the old Celtic word for hill. The name traveled to America with Irish emigration and became remarkably common in the 1970s, reaching the Top 10. It has since eased down to a more distinguished 301, where it sits with the patina of a name that belonged to every other office and every good dad. Two short syllables, BRY-un, no fuss. Steady, friendly, endlessly familiar.