Brenna
Feminine · “sorrow”
Brenna is an Irish surname turned into a girls' name, and the word underneath means sorrow — which is a heavier meaning than the sound suggests.
How old is the name Brenna?
Brenna first appears in US birth records in 1946 — 79 years ago. The typical Brenna alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 29,000 people named Brenna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Brenna most popular?
Brenna peaked in 1995, reaching #235 nationally. Today it ranks #1844, 1,609 places below that high. See the whole 1995 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From braon to Brenna
The story of Brenna
Ó Braonáin families were prominent in several Irish counties, and the surname was anglicized as Brennan. Irish surnames became American given names in the twentieth century, and feminines were built on them freely. Brenna appears in American registers from the 1960s, rose through the 1980s and peaked in the early 1990s.
Meaningscholars disagree
sorrow, sadness
From the Irish surname Ó Braonáin, from braon, 'sorrow' or 'drop' — the sense is disputed between the two. A second reading treats Brenna as a feminine of Brendan or of the Norse Brenna, 'to burn'. None is decisively established for the modern American name.
How the name formed
- braon
- Ó Braonáin
- Brennan
- Brenna
Related forms: Ó Braonáin · Brennah · Bríd
Pronouncing Brenna
BREN-uh
Two syllables, stress on the first. No variation between English accents.
Nicknames for Brenna
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1946
- Most girls named
- 19961,149 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #235reached in 1995
- Change vs 2023
- +17.4%108 in 2025, from 92
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Brenna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ó Braonáin in Irish — related form
- Brennah in English — spelling variant
- Bríd in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Ohio, California.
Brennas among us
people named Brenna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 14,882 born in 2025 was named Brenna
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Rochelle test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Brenna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rochelle climbed just as high around 1969, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rochelle's path sketches the road Brenna is walking now.
Brenna sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Brenna is headed
Brenna is easing off slowly — about 26% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Brenna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Brenna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Irish surname family stands behind it.
- Two firm syllables with no pronunciation risk in any accent.
- It is instantly recognizable as Irish-American without being difficult.
- The sorrow reading is heavier than most families expect from the sound.
- The origin is genuinely split between Irish and Norse readings.
- It is closely dated to the 1990s in American records.
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What they receive
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Brenna
Feminine · #1844 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Brennas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 29,000 people named Brenna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Brenna in 2025?
- Brenna ranks #1844 among US girl names in 2025, with 108 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Brenna?
- About 1 in every 14,882 US girls born in 2025 was named Brenna — 108 in all.
- Will my child share the name Brenna with classmates?
- Brenna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Brenna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vivien#1844 · Francine#1844 · Rhaenyra#1844 · Ambar#1844 · Darlene#1844 · Emberleigh#1844 · Elissa#1844 · Leen#1844
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Brenna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Brenna and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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