Brent
Masculine · “high or holy one”
Brent is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 139,799 boys against 567 girls since 1880. See Brent as a girl name
Brent is a short English name with a clean, one-syllable sound, taken from a river and a surname. It became a familiar boy's name in America, and the same word now names the oil price quoted every day.
How old is the name Brent?
Brent first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Brent alive today was born around 1976, making them about 49 years old. About 123,000 people named Brent are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Brent most popular?
Brent peaked in 1971, reaching #73 nationally. Today it ranks #1509, 1,436 places below that high. See the whole 1971 chart.
Brent appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Brigantī to Brent
The story of Brent
The Brent is a small river in north-west London, and its name is one of the oldest in England, from a British Celtic word meaning the high or holy one, related to the goddess the Romans knew as Brigantia. It gave its name to the London Borough of Brent and to families who lived near it. Far from London, an oil company named a North Sea field Brent, and the crude from it became the benchmark by which much of the world's oil is priced. As a first name, Brent is given almost only to boys.
Meaningscholars disagree
high or holy one, from the river name; or burnt land
The River Brent in London takes its name from an ancient Celtic word for a high or holy one, the same source as the goddess Brigantia. The surname Brent can also come from Old English for burnt land. Either can stand behind the first name.
How the name formed
- Brigantī
- Brentriver
- Brent
Pronouncing Brent
BRENT
One syllable.
Nicknames for Brent
Limited
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
- 1885
- Most boys named
- 19714,053 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #73reached in 1971
- Change vs 2023
- −7.2%116 in 2025, from 125
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.
Brent in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Brents among us
people named Brent are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 14,725 born in 2025 was named Brent
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 Leon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Brent's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Leon climbed just as high around 1926, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Leon's path sketches the road Brent is walking now.
Brent 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 Brent is headed
Brent is easing off slowly — about 19% 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.
Brent beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Brent in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is short, clear and easy to spell.
- It has an old English place-name behind it.
- It is no longer common among new babies, so a young Brent stands out a little.
- Many people associate it with a particular generation of men.
- The oil benchmark shares the word, and it turns up in the news.
- A very few girls have been given it; for them it will read as a boy's name everywhere.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Brent to the vote.
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What they receive
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Brent
Masculine · #1509 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Brents are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 123,000 people named Brent are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Brent in 2025?
- Brent ranks #1509 among US boy names in 2025, with 116 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Brent?
- About 1 in every 14,725 US boys born in 2025 was named Brent — 116 in all.
- Will my child share the name Brent with classmates?
- Brent will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Brent
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zackary#1509 · Masai#1509 · Tristen#1509 · Freddie#1509 · Gavriel#1514 · Jahmari#1514 · Lamar#1514 · Wolfgang#1514
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Brent? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Brent and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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