# Brill (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/brill/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 9,215 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,841 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 33,505 people |
| Change since 2000 | +1.6% (9,069 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As an English surname, from Brill in Buckinghamshire, said to be from Proto-Brythonic *breɣ (“hill”) + Old English hyll (“hill”). * As a Dutch and north German surname, from Middle Low German brul (“low wetland”). Compare the variant Bruehl. * Also as a German surname, from the noun Brille (“eyeglasses”). * As a Jewish surname, from a Hebrew acronym of בן רבי (ben rabi, “son of rabbi”) followed by a Yiddish personal name, such as "Ben Rabbi Yehuda Levi".

## Who carries it

Share of people named Brill in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 94% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.6% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.1% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 1.5% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Brill in the United States and Brazil.

## People named Brill

- Abraham Brill, American psychiatrist & psychoanalyst (1874–1948)
- Steven Brill, American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor
- Alice Brill, Brazilian photographer (1920-2013)
- Nathan Edwin Brill, American physician (1860–1925)
- Fran Brill, American actress
- Will Brill, American actor

## Similar surnames

Briley, Baril, Burrill, Barile, Barlow, Burrell, Burley, Barela, Burwell, Berryhill, Byerly, Barley.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.