Brentley is a modern American blend of Brent, an English surname that means "hill" or "burnt land", and Bentley, the car-brand surname that became a popular boys' name in the 2010s. It is an example of how a fashionable sound spreads to neighboring spellings. In the United States Brentley entered the top 1000 in 2012, peaked at number 637 in 2014 and has since dropped to number 2009 in 2025.