Brendan

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Brandon in US United States, GB United Kingdom, CA Canada and 17 more.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested in 1 language in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Brendan is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name29K records spelled Brendan10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Brazil

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian

  Also written Brêñdåñ, Bréndan, Brendán, Brendån, Brendañ

• Indonesian given name2.5K records spelled Brendan3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Malaysia, Indonesia, United Kingdom

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Brendán

• Finnish given name1.6K records spelled Brendan4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Finland, Hungary, United Kingdom

  Languages: Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian

  Also written Brendán

• Thai given name867 records spelled Brendan10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Thailand, United Kingdom, Ireland

  Languages: Thai, Lao

  Also written เบรนแดน, เบรนดัน, เบร็นดัน, เบร็นแดน, เบรนดั้น

57 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Brendan is also recorded in 3 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Irish, ‘prince’; an early Irish name associated with St Brendan of Birr and St Brendan the Navigator.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In French, Origine celtique, signifie « corbeau ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• Irish: from the old Irish personal name Bréanainn , derived from a Celtic element meaning ‘prince’. This was the name of two 6th-century Irish saints, Brendan the Voyager and Brendan of Birr. According to legend, the former was the first European to set foot on North American soil. The modern Irish Gaelic form Breandán and the Anglicized Brendan are based on the medieval Latin form Bredanus .

  as a word

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 114 years between 1912–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• James Connollyb. 1868USnot in their usual nameAmerican triple jumper (1868-1957)
• Brendan Behanb. 1923IEIrish poet, short story writer, novelist, and playwright (1923-1964)
• Jim Bolgerb. 1935NZnot in their usual namePrime Minister of New Zealand from 1990 to 1997
• James Pattersonb. 1947USnot in their usual nameAmerican author
• Pierce Brosnanb. 1953IEnot in their usual nameIrish actor (born 1953)
• Brendan Gleesonb. 1955IEIrish actor
• Brendan Eichb. 1961USAmerican computer programmer and technology executive
• Brendan Fraserb. 1968USCanadian-American actor (born 1968)
• Brendan Rodgersb. 1973GBNorthern Irish association football manager
• Brendan Cowellb. 1976AUAustralian actor

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 800 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Brendan?

We estimate roughly 672 thousand people bear Brendan (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Brendan have the most bearers?

We estimate about 641 thousand people bear Brendan in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled brandon.

Where is Brendan most common?

Brendan is densest in the United States, where the national register counts about 1 in 519 people carrying it.

How common is Brendan compared with other names?

In the United States, Brendan is the 119th most common given name of 3,122,706 given names recorded there.

Is Brendan a male or female name?

Brendan is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Brendan mean?

Recorded meaning: Old Irish name, from Brénainn; often linked to Celtic roots meaning 'prince' or 'descendant of Braonán'.