given name
A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...
Gaelic
Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
name Breandán, which is in turn derived from the earlier Old Irish Brénainn. The
Old Welsh
Old Welsh ( cy, Hen Gymraeg) is the stage of the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.Koch, p. 1757. The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic ...
''breenhin'' is the root of the name, meaning prince or king. The mediaeval Latin form of the name, Brendanus, has also influenced the modern English and Irish forms. Variant spellings are Brendon and Brenden. In some cases it is possible that the given name Brandon is also a variant of Brendan. A variant spelling of the Irish ''Breandán'' is Breanndán.
Anglicised
Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...
form of the Irish ''Breandán'', in turn derived from the Old Irish ''Brénainn''. This Old Irish
personal name
A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is known ...
(pronounced r'ēn-in' is derived from a borrowing of the Welsh language word ''breenhín'', meaning "a prince". Both the English form and the modern Irish form, ''Breandán'', are based upon the mediaeval Latin form ''Brendanus''. According to one old Irish text there are 17 saints with the name. When used in an Irish sentence it can take the form Bhreandán e.g. ''A Bhreandán'' or ''..do Bhreandán''. Variations of the Irish ''Breandán'' are ''Breanndán'', ''Bhreandán'' and ''Bhreandáin''.
There is no etymological link between ''Brendan'' and ''
Brenda
Brenda is a feminine given name in the English language.
Origin
The overall accepted origin for the female name Brenda is the Old Nordic male name ''Brandr'' meaning both ''torch'' and ''sword'': evidently the male name Brandr took root in areas ...
''. This feminine given name, pronounced , is thought to be derived from the Old Norse element ''brand'', meaning "(flaming) sword". In most cases, the masculine given name Brandon, pronounced , which cited: is considered to be derived from the surname Brandon, which is in turn derived from two
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
elements.
Variants, cognates
*English – Brandon (in some cases),Brendon
*Irish – ''Breandán'', ''Breanndán''
*Latin – ''Brendanus''
*Old Irish – ''Brénainn''
Popularity and use
In some cases, the masculine given name
Brennan Brennan may refer to:
People
* Brennan (surname)
* Brennan (given name)
* Bishop Brennan (disambiguation)
Places
* Brennan, Idlib, a village located in Sinjar Nahiyah in Maarrat al-Nu'man District, Idlib, Syria
* Rabeeah Brennan, a village located ...
may be used as a contracted form of Brendan, although it is etymologically unrelated. It is derived from the surname
Brennan Brennan may refer to:
People
* Brennan (surname)
* Brennan (given name)
* Bishop Brennan (disambiguation)
Places
* Brennan, Idlib, a village located in Sinjar Nahiyah in Maarrat al-Nu'man District, Idlib, Syria
* Rabeeah Brennan, a village located ...
, an Anglicised form of the Irish ''Ó Braonáin''. The popularity of (forms of) Brendan in Gaelic-speaking countries is thought to have influenced the use and popularity of the etymologically unrelated feminine name Brenda.
In 2008, the name was not in the top 100 given names for babies in the United States. However, it ranked within the top 100 given names for babies in New England with 2.60 occurrences per 1,000. During the decades spanning 1900–1940 the name wasn't among the top 1,000 given names recorded for babies in the United States. However, in the 1950s it ranked ''679''; in the 1960s ''448''; in the 1970s ''293''; in the 1980s ''190''; and in the 1990s ''133''. In recent years in the United States, the name has fallen in the ranking of names for babies. In 2000 it ranked ''101''; in 2001 ''115''; in 2002 ''124''; in 2003 ''141''; in 2004 ''149''; in 2005 ''175''; in 2006 ''185''; in 2007 ''205''; and in 2008 ''207''.
Brendan Byrne
Brendan Thomas Byrne (April 1, 1924 – January 4, 2018) was an American politician, statesman, and prosecutor, serving as the 47th governor of New Jersey from 1974 to 1982.
A member of the Democratic Party, Byrne started his career as a privat ...
(1924–2018), American Democratic Party politician from New Jersey
* Brendan Cowell (born 1976), Australian actor and screenwriter
*
Brendan Coyle
David "Brendan" Coyle (born 2 December 1962) is an English-Irish actor. He won the Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role for ''The Weir'' in 1999. He also played Nicholas Higgins in the miniseries '' North & South'', Robert T ...
(born 1963), British actor
*
Brendan Donnelly
Brendan Kevin Donnelly (born July 4, 1971) is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. A right-hander, Donnelly pitched for twenty-one teams (two of them independents), twelve organizations, two independent leagues, eleven organized minor ...
(born 1971), baseball player
* Brendan Evans (born 1986), American tennis player
* Brendan Eich (born 1961), American creator of the JavaScript programming language and co-founder of Mozilla
*
Brendan Fevola
Brendan Fevola (born 20 January 1981) is a former professional Australian rules footballer. He played with the Carlton and Brisbane Lions football clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Fevola is regarded as one of the most effective ...
(born 1981), Australian footballer
* Brendan Fraser (born 1968), Canadian-American actor
*
Brendan Foster
Sir Brendan Foster (born 12 January 1948) is a British former long-distance runner, athletics commentator and road race organiser, who founded the Great North Run, one of the sport's most high profile half-marathon races. As an athlete, he wo ...
(born 1948), British long distance runner
* Brendan Gallagher (b. 1992), Canadian hockey player
*
Brendan Garard
Brendan James Garard (born 6 December 1971 in Brisbane, Queensland) is a former field hockey player from Australia, who was a member of the Men's National Hockey Team that won the bronze medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta
At ...
(born 1971), Australian hockey player
* Brendan Gleeson (born 1955), Irish actor
*
Brendan Grace
Brendan Grace (1 April 1951 – 11 July 2019) was an Irish comedian and singer. He was best known for his comedy schoolboy character 'Bottler', the 1995 film ''Moondance'', and his 1996 appearance in the Irish TV sitcom ''Father Ted'' as Father ...
(1951–2019), Irish comedian and singer
*
Brendan Greene
Brendan Greene (born March 29, 1976), better known as PlayerUnknown, is an Irish video game developer. He is best known for his work on '' PUBG: Battlegrounds''. He left active development on the game to form PUBG Special Projects and PlayerUnkn ...
(born 1976), Irish video game developer
* Brendan Hansen (born 1981), American swimmer
*
Brendan Harris
Brendan Michael Harris (born August 26, 1980) is an American retired professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs, Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals, Cincinnati Reds, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Minnesota T ...
(born 1980), American baseball player
* Brendan Haywood (born 1979), American basketball player
* Brendan Hines (born 1976), American actor and musician
*
Brendan Horgan
Brendan Horgan is an American businessman, and the CEO of Ashtead Group, an industrial equipment rental company and FTSE 100 Index constituent, since May 2019.
In 1996, Horgan joined Sunbelt Rentals, Ashtead's North American business, rising to ...
, American businessman
*
Brendan Howlin
Brendan Howlin (born 9 May 1956) is an Irish Labour Party politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Wexford constituency since 1987. He previously served as Leader of the Labour Party from 2016 to 2020, Minister for Public Expenditu ...
(born 1956), Irish Labour Party politician
*
Brendan Lane (basketball)
Brendan Gerald Lane (born November 19, 1990) is an American retired professional basketball player who last played for Alvark Tokyo of the B.League
The B.League is a professional men's basketball league that began in Japan in September 2016. Th ...
(born 1990), American basketball player
*
Brendan Langley
Brendan Langley (born October 16, 1994) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs football, Georgia B ...
(born 1994), American football player
*
Brendan Leipsic
Brendan Leipsic (born May 19, 1994) is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward currently playing for Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Leipsic was selected by the Nashville Predators in the third round (89th overal ...
(born 1994), Canadian hockey player
*
Angus Brendan MacNeil
Angus Brendan MacNeil ( gd, Aonghas Brianan MacNèill; born 21 July 1970) is the Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of Parliament (MP) for covering the Outer Hebrides.
Background
MacNeil was educated at Castlebay Secondary School on the is ...
(born 1970) Scottish politician, MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar
*
Brendan Mahon
Robert Brendan Mahon (born January 17, 1995) is a former American football guard. He played college football at Penn State.
Early life & high school
Mahon was born in Livingston, New Jersey and grew up in nearby Randolph, where he attended Ra ...
(born 1995), American football player
*
Brendan Malone
Brendan Thomas Malone (born April 21, 1942) is an American basketball coach.
Early life
Malone grew up in Astoria, Queens in New York City and graduated from Rice High School. Malone's father, also named Brendan, unloaded freight cars for the R ...
(b. 1942), American basketball coach
*
Brendan Murray
Brendan Hugh Francis Murray (born 16 November 1996) is an Irish singer and former member of the Irish boy band HomeTown. He represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Dying to Try" but failed to qualify for the fina ...
(born 1996), Irish singer
* Brendan Murray (born 1995), American record producer known as Bighead
*
Brendan Morrison
Brendan Morrison (born August 15, 1975) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre. He has previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New Jersey Devils, Vancouver Canucks, Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Stars, Washington Capit ...
(born 1975), Canadian hockey player
* Brendan Nelson (born 1958), Australian politician
*
Brendan O'Neill (disambiguation) Brendan O'Neill may refer to:
* Brendan O'Neill (businessman) (born 1948), British business executive
*Brendan O'Neill (columnist), British columnist
* Brendan O'Neill (musician) (born 1951, Belfast), Irish musician, drummer of the late Rory Gallag ...
, several people
* Brendan Rodgers (born 1973), football manager
*
Brendan Ryan (disambiguation) Brendan Ryan may refer to:
* Brendan Ryan (Cork politician) (born 1946), Irish Independent (then Labour Party) Senator (1981–1993, 1997–2007)
* Brendan Ryan (baseball) (born 1982), U.S. major league baseball player
* Brendan Ryan (Dublin politi ...
, several people
* Brendan Shanahan (born 1969), hockey player
*
Brendan Simbwaye
Brendan Kongongolo Simbwaye (1934–1972?) was a Namibian anti-apartheid activist who was president of the Caprivi African National Union (CANU). Simbwaye became the vice-president of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) in 1964 a ...
(1934–1972?), Namibian anti-apartheid activist who disappeared in 1972
* Brendon Small (born 1975), American writer, creator of the TV shows ''Home Movies'' and ''Metalocalypse''
*
Brendan Smith (disambiguation) Brendan Smith may refer to:
*Brendan Smith (politician) (born 1956), Irish Fianna Fáil politician, TD and government minister
*Brendan Powell Smith (born 1973), American artist and author
*Brendan Smith (cricketer) (born 1985), English cricketer
* ...
, ''several people''
*
Brendan Smyth
Brendan Smyth O.Praem (8 June 1927 – 22 August 1997) was a Catholic priest from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who became notorious as a child molester, using his position in the Catholic Church to obtain access to his victims. During a period ...
(1927–1997), Irish Roman Catholic priest.
* Brendan Walsh (born 1959), American chef
* Brendon Walsh (born 1978), American stand-up comedian
*
Brendan White
Brendan White (born 16 April 1992), is an Australian professional association football, soccer player who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Heidelberg United FC, Heidelberg United.
Club career
Brisbane Roar
Brendan W ...
(born 1992), Australian association football player
* Brendan Whitecross (born 1990), Australian footballer
Fictional characters named Brendan
*Brendan Frye, lead character in the movie ''
Brick
A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...
''
*Brendan Jones, from Australian television program
A Country Practice
''A Country Practice'' is an Australian television soap opera which broadcast on the Seven Network from 18 November 1981 until 5 November 1993, airing at 7:30 pm on Monday and Tuesday evenings. Altogether, 14 seasons and 1,058 episodes were p ...
*
Brendan (Pokémon) Brendan may refer to:
People
* Saint Brendan the Navigator (c. 484 – c. 577) was an Irish monastic saint.
* Saint Brendan of Birr (died 573), Abbot of Birr in Co. Offaly, contemporaneous with the above
* Brendan (given name), a masculine given na ...
, the main male character of ''Pokémon Ruby'', ''Sapphire'', ''Emerald'', ''Omega Ruby'' and ''Alpha Sapphire''
*
Brendan Brady
Brendan Brady is a Character (arts), fictional character from the Television in the United Kingdom, British Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', played by Emmett J. Scanlan. The character was introduced on 5 August 2010 by series producer Paul Mar ...
, from Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks''
*Brendan, supporting character in the film ''
The Darjeeling Limited
''The Darjeeling Limited'' is a 2007 American comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson, which he co-produced with Scott Rudin, Roman Coppola, and Lydia Dean Pilcher, and co-wrote with Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman. The film stars Owen W ...
''
*Brendan Richards, from the short-lived ''Doctor Who'' spinoff K-9 and Company
*Brendan, the main character of the animated fantasy movie '' The Secret of Kells''
*Brendan Conlon, one of the lead characters in the 2011 movie ''Warrior'', played by Joel Edgerton
People named Breandán
*
Breandán Breathnach
Breandán Breathnach (1 April 1912 – 6 November 1985) was an Irish music collector and uilleann piper. In addition to collecting Irish music, he is known for his ''Ceol Rince na hÉireann'' (Dance Music of Ireland) series.
Life
Breathnach gr ...
(1912–1985), Irish music collector and Uilleann piper
* Breandán de Gallaí (born 1969), Irish professional dancer
*
Breandán Ó hEithir
Breandán Ó hEithir (18 January 1930 – 26 October 1990) was an Irish writer and broadcaster.Breandán Ó Madagain (1932–2020), Irish scholar, writer and celticist