"Brenda" meaning in English

See Brenda in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proper name

IPA: /ˈbɹɛndə/
Etymology: Possibly from Old Norse brandr (“sword”); by folk etymology seen as a feminine form of Brendan. Its use as a nickname for Queen Elizabeth II originated in Private Eye in reaction to a perceived attempt by the royals to appear less distant and upper class. Etymology templates: {{der|en|non|brandr||sword}} Old Norse brandr (“sword”) Head templates: {{en-proper noun}} Brenda
  1. A female given name. Categories (topical): English female given names, English given names, Nicknames of individuals
    Sense id: en-Brenda-en-name-b1svBRzJ Disambiguation of Nicknames of individuals: 46 52 3
  2. (UK, humorous) Queen Elizabeth II. Tags: UK, humorous Categories (topical): Individuals, Nicknames of individuals, Private Eye
    Sense id: en-Brenda-en-name-QiQAvSQD Disambiguation of Individuals: 17 80 3 Disambiguation of Nicknames of individuals: 46 52 3 Disambiguation of Private Eye: 27 65 8 Categories (other): British English, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 3 entries, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 20 79 1 Disambiguation of Pages with 3 entries: 20 76 4 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 13 85 2
  3. A former rural municipality of Manitoba. Categories (place): Places in Canada, Places in Manitoba, Rural municipalities of Manitoba
    Sense id: en-Brenda-en-name-9HMyuEGA
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: Brenda-Waskada

Alternative forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "Brenda-Waskada"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "non",
        "3": "brandr",
        "4": "",
        "5": "sword"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse brandr (“sword”)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Possibly from Old Norse brandr (“sword”); by folk etymology seen as a feminine form of Brendan. Its use as a nickname for Queen Elizabeth II originated in Private Eye in reaction to a perceived attempt by the royals to appear less distant and upper class.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "Brenda",
      "name": "en-proper noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "name",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "name": "English female given names",
          "parents": [
            "Female given names",
            "Given names",
            "Names",
            "All topics",
            "Proper nouns",
            "Terms by semantic function",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "name": "English given names",
          "parents": [
            "Given names",
            "Names",
            "All topics",
            "Proper nouns",
            "Terms by semantic function",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "46 52 3",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Nicknames of individuals",
          "orig": "en:Nicknames of individuals",
          "parents": [
            "Individuals",
            "Nicknames",
            "People",
            "Names",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Proper nouns",
            "Terms by semantic function",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1821, Walter Scott, chapter III, in The Pirate:",
          "text": "We have already mentioned Minna and Brenda, the daughters of Magnus Troil. Their mother had been dead for many years, and they were now two beautiful girls",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, Joy Fielding, Missing Pieces, page 85:",
          "text": "'Brandi's father owns a number of radio stations across the country.' He smiled. 'Beware of women whose first names are potable.'\n'I'll keep it in mind.'\n'Actually, her real name is Brenda. She was named after Brenda Marshall, who was an actress in the forties. Apparently, my father-in-law was a huge fan.'",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A female given name."
      ],
      "id": "en-Brenda-en-name-b1svBRzJ",
      "links": [
        [
          "given name",
          "given name"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "20 79 1",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "20 76 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 3 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "13 85 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "17 80 3",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Individuals",
          "orig": "en:Individuals",
          "parents": [
            "People",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "46 52 3",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Nicknames of individuals",
          "orig": "en:Nicknames of individuals",
          "parents": [
            "Individuals",
            "Nicknames",
            "People",
            "Names",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Proper nouns",
            "Terms by semantic function",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "27 65 8",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Private Eye",
          "orig": "en:Private Eye",
          "parents": [
            "British fiction",
            "Fiction",
            "Artistic works",
            "Art",
            "Culture",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1977, “Loyal News”, in Private Eye, numbers 393-418, page 23:",
          "text": "There is a widespread belief that Brenda plays no part in politics. This is not entirely true. For instance, she has very strong feelings on Rhodesia.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1993 August 10, Jonathan Beasley Murray, “Re: Royal Family's last name?”, in soc.culture.british (Usenet):",
          "text": "Windsor, I was always led to believe. But--as with license plates--they don't ever have to use it. Brenda just signs herself Elizabeth R (Regina).",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002 February 13, Heretic, “Re: Old Gin Slugger is dead.”, in uk.current-events.n-ireland (Usenet):",
          "text": "That is something that can never be removed entirely from anyone, the cold aloofness that is seen in the royal family is something that has been bred into them, but it doesn't take away their humanity at all. You only had to see the pictures of Brenda visiting the homeless hostel to know that she was bottling back tears.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002 November 6, Tom, “Re: \"Be careful, Paul...\"”, in uk.politics.misc (Usenet):",
          "text": "The problem isn't just Brenda, it is that there will never be agreement on what to replace her with. viz. the House of Lords debacle, the Australian Republican referendum.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Queen Elizabeth II."
      ],
      "id": "en-Brenda-en-name-QiQAvSQD",
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK, humorous) Queen Elizabeth II."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "humorous"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "place",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Places in Canada",
          "orig": "en:Places in Canada",
          "parents": [
            "Places",
            "Names",
            "All topics",
            "Proper nouns",
            "Terms by semantic function",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "place",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Places in Manitoba",
          "orig": "en:Places in Manitoba",
          "parents": [
            "Places",
            "Names",
            "All topics",
            "Proper nouns",
            "Terms by semantic function",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "place",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Rural municipalities of Manitoba",
          "orig": "en:Rural municipalities of Manitoba",
          "parents": [
            "Rural municipalities",
            "Places",
            "Political subdivisions",
            "Names",
            "Polities",
            "All topics",
            "Proper nouns",
            "Terms by semantic function",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A former rural municipality of Manitoba."
      ],
      "id": "en-Brenda-en-name-9HMyuEGA",
      "links": [
        [
          "Manitoba",
          "Manitoba#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbɹɛndə/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Brenda"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English proper nouns",
    "English terms derived from Old Norse",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Pages with 3 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Individuals",
    "en:Nicknames of individuals",
    "en:Private Eye"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "Brenda-Waskada"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "non",
        "3": "brandr",
        "4": "",
        "5": "sword"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse brandr (“sword”)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Possibly from Old Norse brandr (“sword”); by folk etymology seen as a feminine form of Brendan. Its use as a nickname for Queen Elizabeth II originated in Private Eye in reaction to a perceived attempt by the royals to appear less distant and upper class.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "Brenda",
      "name": "en-proper noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "name",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English female given names",
        "English given names",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1821, Walter Scott, chapter III, in The Pirate:",
          "text": "We have already mentioned Minna and Brenda, the daughters of Magnus Troil. Their mother had been dead for many years, and they were now two beautiful girls",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, Joy Fielding, Missing Pieces, page 85:",
          "text": "'Brandi's father owns a number of radio stations across the country.' He smiled. 'Beware of women whose first names are potable.'\n'I'll keep it in mind.'\n'Actually, her real name is Brenda. She was named after Brenda Marshall, who was an actress in the forties. Apparently, my father-in-law was a huge fan.'",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A female given name."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "given name",
          "given name"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English humorous terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1977, “Loyal News”, in Private Eye, numbers 393-418, page 23:",
          "text": "There is a widespread belief that Brenda plays no part in politics. This is not entirely true. For instance, she has very strong feelings on Rhodesia.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1993 August 10, Jonathan Beasley Murray, “Re: Royal Family's last name?”, in soc.culture.british (Usenet):",
          "text": "Windsor, I was always led to believe. But--as with license plates--they don't ever have to use it. Brenda just signs herself Elizabeth R (Regina).",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002 February 13, Heretic, “Re: Old Gin Slugger is dead.”, in uk.current-events.n-ireland (Usenet):",
          "text": "That is something that can never be removed entirely from anyone, the cold aloofness that is seen in the royal family is something that has been bred into them, but it doesn't take away their humanity at all. You only had to see the pictures of Brenda visiting the homeless hostel to know that she was bottling back tears.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002 November 6, Tom, “Re: \"Be careful, Paul...\"”, in uk.politics.misc (Usenet):",
          "text": "The problem isn't just Brenda, it is that there will never be agreement on what to replace her with. viz. the House of Lords debacle, the Australian Republican referendum.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Queen Elizabeth II."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK, humorous) Queen Elizabeth II."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "humorous"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Places in Canada",
        "en:Places in Manitoba",
        "en:Rural municipalities of Manitoba"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A former rural municipality of Manitoba."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Manitoba",
          "Manitoba#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbɹɛndə/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Brenda"
}

Download raw JSONL data for Brenda meaning in English (3.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (c15a5ce and 5c11237). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.