Brenda is from the Old Norse brand (sword, torch). **A top-30 US baby name from 1956 to 1969, peaking at #20 in 1957**. **Brenda Lee (born 1944)** — American singer; her 1958 recording of *Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree* finally hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2023, **65 years after its release** — the longest journey to #1 in chart history. **Brenda Fricker (born 1945)** — Irish actress; first Irishwoman to win an Academy Award (Best Supporting Actress, *My Left Foot*, 1989). **Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond (born 1945)** — first female President of the UK Supreme Court.
Featured in Sir Walter Scott's *The Pirate* (1822), where the name first reached the English-speaking world.
Brenda reduces to seven — the number of Norse sword.