Brentley
Masculine · “burnt clearing”
Brentley is given to both — 4,244 boys and 304 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Brentley joins Brent to a -ley ending, and the leah behind it is Old English for a clearing — the commonest element in English place names.
How old is the name Brentley?
Brentley first appears in US birth records in 1957 — 68 years ago. The typical Brentley is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 4,200 people named Brentley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Brentley most popular?
Brentley peaked in 2014, reaching #636 nationally. Today it ranks #2006, 1,370 places below that high. See the whole 2014 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From leah to Brentley
Our story of Brentley
Our story of Brentley is a story of a surname reshaped by rhyme. Bentley was rising as an American given name in the 2000s, and Brent had a long record of its own. Families produced Brentley, Brantley and Bradley alongside each other — the same ending, the front sound swapped. The -ley element is genuinely Old English and means a clearing; the joining is a decade or two old, and the registers show Brentley from the 2000s.
Meaningscholars disagree
burnt clearing
The -ley ending is the Old English leah, 'wood' or 'clearing', which is settled. The Brent- front may be from the Old English brant, 'steep', or brend, 'burnt' — land cleared by fire. A separate route is the Bentley surname with an r inserted. The compound is modern American.
How the name formed
- leah
- Brentley
Related forms: Brantley · Bentley · Brently
Pronouncing Brentley
BRENT-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Brentley and Brently are said identically.
Nicknames for Brentley
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
- 1957
- Most boys named
- 2014413 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #636reached in 2014
- Change vs 2024
- −18.5%75 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.
Brentley in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Brantley in English — related form
- Bentley in English — related form
- Brently in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, Texas, Tennessee.
Brentleys among us
people named Brentley are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 22,774 born in 2025 was named Brentley
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 Heriberto test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Brentley's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Heriberto climbed just as high around 1980, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Heriberto's path sketches the road Brentley is walking now.
Brentley 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 Brentley is headed
Brentley is easing off slowly — about 27% 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.
Brentley beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Brentley in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Brent is available as a short form with a large record.
- The -ley element is genuinely Old English and means a clearing.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- The compound is modern and its front element is disputed.
- Bentley and Brantley are both close enough to cause constant confusion.
- Bentley is also a car marque, which colors the whole family.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Brentley
Masculine · #2006 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Brentleys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,200 people named Brentley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Brentley in 2025?
- Brentley ranks #2006 among US boy names in 2025, with 75 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Brentley?
- About 1 in every 22,774 US boys born in 2025 was named Brentley — 75 in all.
- Will my child share the name Brentley with classmates?
- Brentley will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Brentley
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rogan#2006 · Oaklee#2006 · Kadence#2006 · Edmond#2006 · Fenix#2006 · Esdras#2006 · Axell#2006 · Rayne#2006
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Brentley? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Brentley and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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