Brenda is a Scandinavian name, probably a feminine form of the Old Norse Brandr, which means "sword" or "firebrand"; it was long used in the Shetland Islands, and Sir Walter Scott's novel The Pirate spread it through the English-speaking world. Brenda was a top 20 name in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. It ranked number 172 in 2000, fell out of the top 1000 in 2018 and stands at number 1527 in 2025.