Brentson
A masculine name derived from the surname Brent, meaning "burnt land" or "meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Brentson. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Brentson today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brentson births was 2014 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brentson. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Brentson. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
2014
6 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2014 SSA rank
#10,905
Tracked since 2004
Popularity
Brentson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brentson from the 2000s through to the 2010s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 6 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brentson by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Brentson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brentson
The given name Brentson is a relatively modern invention, likely originating in the late 19th or early 20th century. It appears to be a combination of the English surname Brent and the common English suffix -son, which denotes "son of." The surname Brent itself is derived from the Old English word "brent," meaning "burned" or "burnt," and may have originally referred to someone who lived near a burned area or clearing.
While the name Brentson is not found in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it bears some resemblance to the Old English name Brantson, which means "son of Brant." Brant was a Germanic name derived from the word "brand," meaning "sword" or "fire." However, there is no direct historical connection between Brantson and the modern name Brentson.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brentson can be found in the 1920 United States Federal Census, where a Brentson Smith is listed as residing in Texas. Another early example is Brentson Buckner, an American football player who was born in 1971 and played defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for several teams, including the Pittsburgh Steelers and the San Francisco 49ers.
Among the notable individuals throughout history who bore the first name Brentson are:
1. Brentson Hassler (1882-1955), an American politician who served as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Missouri from 1933 to 1937.
2. Brentson Mackay (1909-1992), a British-born Australian actor and director known for his work in theater and television.
3. Brentson Pryce (1914-2001), a Jamaican cricketer who played Test cricket for the West Indies in the 1940s.
4. Brentson Buckingham (1935-2018), an American artist and sculptor known for his abstract metal sculptures.
5. Brentson Eliott (born 1962), a South African rugby union player who represented the Springboks in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
While the name Brentson is not as common as some other given names, it has a distinctive sound and historical roots that have appealed to some parents over the past century.
People
Brentson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brentson as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Brentson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brentson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brentson going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Brentson a common name?
We classify Brentson as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brentson most popular?
The single biggest year for Brentson was 2014, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brentson is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Brentson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brentson a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brentson in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Brentson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brentson in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Brentson can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Brentson?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Brentson, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.