Show ContentsBrend History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Etymology of Brend

What does the name Brend mean?

It wasn’t until the 10th and 11th centuries that Jewish surnames began for the Jews living in North Africa, Spain, France, and Italy. 1

With the pressure to have a fixed surname, Jews sought out interesting ways to name themselves. Some gathered at the synagogue and the rabbi opened a prayer book, the first word on a page was then offered to a family, and so on. Some took names from popular characters in literature. While others created matronymic and patronymic names with suffixes like -sohn, -ov, -kin, etc to denote “descendant of”. 2

In some cases, the name Brend has been derived from the personal name Brando, and is patronymic. Sometimes this surname comes from the Middle High German "Brant," a topographic name used for someone who lived in an area cleared by fire. Lastly, the name was also occupational, derived from the German word "brandler," or distiller.

Early Origins of the Brend family

The surname Brend was first found in Bavaria, which became a fertile source of many succeeding branches of the family name. They were later found in Westphalia and Saxony, where they possessed lands at Haardorff and Stackelberg. The family name was later distinguished when it was elevated to the nobility of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1778.

Brend Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Brandt, Brandte, Brandtes, Brandtte, Brant, Brante, Brandes, Brandis, Brand, Brande, Brandde, Brannde, Brend, Brende, Brendel, Brendde, Brennde and many more.


Brend migration to the United States +



Brend Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • William Brend, aged 40, who landed in New England in 1656 3
  • William Brend who arrived in Boston in 1657
  • William Brend in America in 1664

Contemporary Notables of the name Brend (post 1700) +

  • Ruth Brend, Canadian-born author and Professor of Linguistics


  1. Weiss, Nelly. The Origin of Jewish family names: Morphology and History. Peter Lang AG, 2002. Digital
  2. Kaganoff, Benzion C. A Dictionary of Jewish names and their history. Schocken Books, 1977. Digital
  3. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)


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