Brenda
Encyclopedia
Brenda is a feminine given name
Given name
A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...

 in the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

.

Etymology

The name is of uncertain origin. It may be derived from a Scandinavian language, rather than a Celtic language like the similarly-spelt masculine given name Brendan. It is possible that Brenda may be derived in part from the Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

 element brand, meaning "(flaming) sword".

Popularity

Prior to the 20th century, Brenda was primarily used in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, later it became popular in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Its use in the Gaelic-speaking countries is attributed to the similar, although likely etymologically unrelated masculine name Brendan.

"Brenda" is used as a nickname for Queen Elizabeth II by the satirical magazine Private Eye
Private Eye
Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...

. The comedian Stanley Baxter
Stanley Baxter
Stanley Baxter is a Scottish comic actor and impressionist, best known for his British television shows. He worked in radio, theatre, television and film.-Early life:...

 played the "Duchess of Brenda", a character loosely based on the Queen

People named Brenda

  • Brenda Archer
    Brenda Archer
    Brenda Archer is a retired female track and field athlete from Guyana. She competed in the high jump, and represented her native country at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy, finishing in 20th place.-References:*...

    , Guyanese high jumper
  • Brenda Benet
    Brenda Benet
    Brenda Benet was an American television and film actress. Benet was best known for her roles on the soap operas The Young Marrieds and Days of our Lives.-Early life and career:...

    , actress
  • Brenda Blethyn
    Brenda Blethyn
    Brenda Anne Blethyn, OBE is an English actress who has worked in theatre, television and film. Blethyn has received two Academy Award nominations, two SAG Award nominations, two Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...

    , English actress
  • Brenda Brabham
    Brenda Brabham
    Brenda Kaye Brabham is a beauty queen from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who has competed in the Miss USA 2005 pageant.-Miss Pennsylvania USA:Brabham won the Miss Pennsylvania USA 2005 title in a state pageant held in late 2004...

    , American beauty queen and QVC model
  • Brenda Bruce
    Brenda Bruce
    Brenda Bruce was a British actress. She had a long and successful career in the theatre, radio, film, and television.-Early life:Brenda Bruce was born in Manchester...

    , English actress
  • Brenda Bufalino
    Brenda Bufalino
    Brenda Bufalino is an artist of the tap dance world. In a career spanning several decades, she has worked with many influential artists. Bufalino founded the .-External links:**...

    , tap dancer
  • Brenda Buttner
    Brenda Buttner
    Brenda Buttner is a senior business correspondent and host of Bulls & Bears on Fox News Channel. She also frequently contributes to Your World with Neil Cavuto....

    , TV news
  • Brenda Castillo
    Brenda Castillo
    Brenda Castillo is a female volleyball player from the Dominican Republic, who plays as a libero for the Dominican Republic national team and the Puerto Rican club Criollas de Caguas....

    , Dominican Republic volleyball player
  • Brenda Davies
    Brenda Davies
    Brenda Ethel Davies was the wife of Robertson Davies.Born in Australia, she met Davies at the University of Oxford. They married in 1940...

    , wife of Robertson Davies
  • Brenda De Banzie
    Brenda De Banzie
    Brenda D. M. De Banzie was a British actress of stage and screen.She was the daughter of Edward De Banzie and his second wife Dorothy, whom he married in 1908. In 1911, the family lived in Salford....

    , British actress of stage and screen
  • Brenda Dervin
    Brenda Dervin
    Brenda Dervin, currently a professor of communication at Ohio State University, is a researcher in the communication and library and information science fields. Her research about information seeking and information use led to the development of the Sense-Making approach...

    , American Professor, The Ohio State University
  • Brenda Dickson
    Brenda Dickson
    Brenda Irene Dickson ) is an American actress who originated the role of Jill Foster Abbott on the soap opera The Young and the Restless.-Work:...

    , American actress, originated the role of Jill Foster on The Young and the Restless
    The Young and the Restless
    The Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...

  • Brenda Eisler
    Brenda Eisler
    Brenda Lee Eisler is a retired long jumper from Canada. She won the gold medal at the 1971 Pan American Games, and competed for her native country at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany.-References:*...

    , Canadian long jumper
  • Brenda Fassie
    Brenda Fassie
    Brenda Fassie , was a South African pop singer. She was known for her "outrageousness" and widely considered a voice for disenfranchised blacks during apartheid. She was affectionately known as the Queen of African Pop and her nickname amongst fans was Mabrr.-Biography:Brenda was born in Langa,...

    , South African pop singer
  • Brenda Fricker
    Brenda Fricker
    Brenda Fricker is an Irish actress of theatre, film and television. She had appeared in more than 30 films and television roles...

    , Irish actress
  • Brenda Gibbs
    Brenda Gibbs
    Brenda Gibbs is an Australian politician. Gibbs was elected to the Australian Senate for Queensland in 1996, representing the Australian Labor Party. Her first term began on 1 July 1996, she was not re-elected at the Australian federal election, 2001, and her term expired on 30 June...

    , Australian actress
  • Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond
    Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond
    Brenda Marjorie Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, DBE, QC, PC, FBA is a British legal academic, barrister, judge and a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom....

    , first female Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
  • Brenda Holloway, American singer
  • Brenda Joyce:
    • Brenda Joyce (author), American writer
    • Brenda Joyce (actress)
      Brenda Joyce (actress)
      Brenda Joyce was an American film actress. She was born as Betty Graftina Leabo in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, although family and friends referred to her as Graftina....

       (1917-2009), American film actress (1930s–1940s)
  • Brenda Lee
    Brenda Lee
    Brenda Mae Tarpley , known as Brenda Lee, is an American performer who sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 37 US chart hits during the 1960s, a number surpassed only by Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Ray Charles and Connie Francis...

    , American singer
  • Brenda Maddox
    Brenda Maddox
    Brenda Maddox FRSL is an American author, journalist, and biographer, who has lived in the UK since 1959.Born in Brockton, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, she graduated from Harvard University with a degree in English literature and also studied at the London School of Economics...

    , biographer
  • Brenda Marshall
    Brenda Marshall
    Brenda Marshall was an American film actress.Born Ardis Ankerson in Negros, Philippines, Marshall made her first film appearance in the 1939 Espionage Agent. The following year, she played the leading lady to Errol Flynn in The Sea Hawk...

    , American actress
  • Brenda Matthews
    Brenda Matthews
    Brenda Patricia Matthews is a former female track and field sprinter and hurdler form New Zealand. She represented her native country at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany.-References:*...

    , New Zealand sprinter
  • Brenda Pye
    Brenda Pye
    Brenda Pye also known by her earlier married name of Brenda Landon or her maiden name of Brenda Capron was an English portrait painter and landscape artist...

    , English artist
  • Brenda Reimer, the name by which David Reimer
    David Reimer
    David Reimer was a Canadian man who was born as a healthy male, but was sexually reassigned and raised as female after his penis was accidentally destroyed during circumcision. Psychologist John Money oversaw the case and reported the reassignment as successful, and as evidence that gender...

     was known until age 13
  • Brenda Robertson
    Brenda Robertson
    Brenda Mary Robertson, CM, ONB is a Canadian politician and former Senator. She was the first woman elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick and the first woman to become a cabinet minister in the province....

    , Canadian politician
  • Brenda Russell
    Brenda Russell
    Brenda Russell is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboardist. Known for her eclectic musical style, her recordings have encompassed several different genres, including pop, soul, dance, jazz and adult contemporary...

    , American singer/songwriter
  • Brenda Sue Schaefer, murder victim
  • Brenda Schultz-McCarthy
    Brenda Schultz-McCarthy
    Brenda Anne Marie Schultz-McCarthy is a Dutch tennis player. Primarily known for her maiden name Brenda Schultz, she married Sean McCarthy, a former American football player at University of Cincinnati, on 8 April 1995 and adopted his surname...

    , Dutch former tennis player
  • Brenda Song
    Brenda Song
    Brenda Song is an American actress, film producer, and model. Song started in show business as a child fashion model. Her early television work included roles in the shows Fudge and 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd...

    , American actress and singer, stars as London Tipton
    London Tipton
    London Leah Tipton is a fictional character in Disney's Suite Life franchise which consists of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and its spin-off The Suite Life on Deck...

     in "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
    The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
    The Suite Life of Zack & Cody is an American sitcom created by Danny Kallis and Jim Geoghan. The series premiered on Disney Channel on March 18, 2005 with 4 million viewers, making it the most successful premiere for Disney Channel in 2005. It was one of their first five shows available on the...

    "
  • Brenda Ann Spencer
    Brenda Ann Spencer
    Brenda Ann Spencer is a convicted American murderer who carried out a shooting spree from her home in San Diego, California, on January 29, 1979. During the shooting spree, she killed two people and injured nine others at Cleveland Elementary School, which was located across the street from her home...

    , American convicted murderer
  • Brenda K. Starr
    Brenda K. Starr
    Brenda K. Starr is an American singer-songwriter. She is well known originally in dance-pop, but now mostly in salsa-based music...

    , American singer
  • Brenda Starr (comic strip)
    Brenda Starr (comic strip)
    Brenda Starr, Reporter was a comic strip about a glamorous, adventurous female reporter. It was created in 1940 by Dale Messick for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate....

    , long-running comic strip
  • Brenda Stauffer
    Brenda Stauffer
    Brenda Lee Stauffer is a former field hockey player from the United States. She was a member of the United States bronze medal winning team at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. Brenda played field hockey at Pennsylvania State University making "collegiate player of the year" in...

    , field hockey player
  • Brenda Strong
    Brenda Strong
    Brenda Lee Strong is an American actress and yoga instructor, known for her roles as as Capt. Deladier in the 1997 hit movie Starship Troopers and Mary Alice Young on the television show Desperate Housewives....

    , American actress
  • Brenda Vaccaro
    Brenda Vaccaro
    Brenda Buell Vaccaro is an American stage, television and film actress.-Early life:Vaccaro was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian American parents Christine M. and Mario A. Vaccaro , both of whom were pioneers in Italian cuisine...

    , Italian-American actress
  • Brenda Venus
    Brenda Venus
    Brenda Venus is an actress, author, ballet dancer, director, and producer. In her early 20s, Brenda Venus met the famed Henry Miller in June 1976. He became her mentor and she his muse. Over 4,000 pages of letters were written by Henry Miller which were later collected into the book, "Dear, Dear...

    , American actress, writer, and director
  • Brenda Villa
    Brenda Villa
    Brenda Villa is an American world-class water polo player for the US National and Olympic teams....

    , Mexican-American polo player

Fictional people named Brenda

  • Brenda Barrett Corinthos
    Brenda Barrett
    Brenda Veronica Barrett is a fictional character from the ABC daytime soap opera, General Hospital. The role was originated by Vanessa Marcil on September 18, 1992. After a six-year run with the show, the character of Brenda was believed to have died after her mentally ill mother drove their car...

    , character on the soap opera General Hospital
    General Hospital
    General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....

  • Brenda Bates, character in Urban Legend
    Urban Legend (film)
    Urban Legend is a 1998 horror film starring Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart, Jared Leto, Michael Rosenbaum, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Loretta Devine, Robert Englund, John Neville, Joshua Jackson, Regina King, and Tara Reid...

  • Brenda Chenowith
    Brenda Chenowith
    Brenda Chenowith is a fictional character on the HBO television series Six Feet Under played by Rachel Griffiths. She was first introduced in the pilot, and remained until the series finale.-Prior to the Pilot:...

    , character in Six Feet Under
  • Brenda Jenkins, character in 227
    227 (TV series)
    227 is an American situation comedy that originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, until May 6, 1990. The series starred Marla Gibbs as a sharp-tongued, inner-city resident gossip and housewife, Mary Jenkins...

  • Brenda, character from Perfect Hair Forever
  • Brenda, nickname of Rope Girl, character from the animated Disney show Teamo Supremo
    Teamo Supremo
    Teamo Supremo is an animated television series created by Disney. Animated in the limited animation style pioneered by Jay Ward, predecessors which inspired its style, it tells of three superhero kids: Captain Crandall, Skate Lad, and Rope Girl...

  • Brenda, daughter of Magnus Troil, character in Sir Walter Scott's
    Walter Scott
    Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....

     novel The Pirate
    The Pirate (novel)
    The Pirate is a novel by Walter Scott, based roughly on the life of John Gow who features as Captain Cleveland. The setting is the southern tip of the main island of Shetland , around 1700...

  • Brenda Walsh, character in Beverly Hills, 90210
    Beverly Hills, 90210
    Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...

    (TV series 1990-2000) played by Shannen Doherty
    Shannen Doherty
    Shannen Maria Doherty is an American actress, producer, author and television director, known for her work as Heather Duke in Heathers , as Brenda Walsh in Beverly Hills, 90210 and its spinoff series 90210, and as Prue Halliwell in Charmed .-Early life and career:Doherty was born in Memphis,...

    .
  • Brenda Meeks, friend of Cindy Campbell of Scary Movie
    Scary Movie
    Scary Movie is a 2000 comedy-parody film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans, as part of Warner Bros. Entertainment. It is an American dark comedy which heavily parodies the horror, slasher, and mystery genres...

     series played by Regina Hall
    Regina Hall
    Regina Hall is an American film and television actress known for her lead role of Brenda Meeks in the Scary Movie films and as Corretta Lipp in the FOX comedy-drama Ally McBeal.-Personal life:...

    . In A Vampire's love, Regina's character had the same name and is played by Emily Shepherd.
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