Hey Brenton! Your name is SUPER popular in Adelaide #WhyTho?
The ABC has just revealed that if you’re a South Australian gent and your name is Brenton, you’re one of a bunch of beloved Brentons in the state. Hurrah for you!!
Let’s call him … Brenton!
The name “Brenton was in the top 100 baby names in South Australia in every year but one between 1944 and 1988, according to data made available by the state Attorney-General’s Department,” the ABC reports.
There are in fact thousands of Brentons living in the wild in the southern state. The ABC says 3325 since 1944, to be precise.
While some have put the popularity down to the name of a John Waters character in 80’s drama All The Rivers Run, the name reached peak popularity well before that.
The year 1962 was the busiest for Brenton, with 134 boys being given the name. While this doesn’t put Brenton in the Top 10 baby boys names that year, it does place it at a respectable 19th, and it continued to be much loved and often used for the next 20 odd years.
Read more about baby names:
- 50 brilliant baby names inspired by fairy tales and fables
- Mum shares “dumbest” names from her son’s school and has she got a point?
- The most popular baby names of the 1910’s are also perfect for modern babies
Changing fortunes for Brenton
The tables turned and the name appears to have fallen out of fashion by 2017, when not a single baby boy was named Brenton. We. Are. Shook.
Also? Other states were not quite so enamoured with Brenton. Nope.
“In New South Wales, the only years Brenton cracked the top 100 was in 1984 and 1985, when 122 and 71 Brentons were born respectively, according to the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. It was the 72nd most popular name in Victoria in the 1980s,” the ABC says.
In case you were wondering, Brenton is a name of English origin meaning “town near the burnt land” and is the name of a character in Gone With The Wind, too. We’re not sure WHY it was so loved by the SA folk, but perhaps it’s simply a slight twist on Brett or Brendan, and that tweak seemed like a good idea?
Read more about the brilliant Brenton at the ABC.
