The first part of the hill's name is a common Brythonic element meaning breast, pap; hill-side, slope, breast (of hill), which is frequent in Welsh placenames. The Cornish historian and language expert Henry Jenner suggested that the name came from a corruption of the Cornish words bronn ughella/ewhella meaning highest hill, as it is the highest point of Bodmin Moor and of Cornwall. The highest hill in Devon has the similar name, High Willhays which falls in line with this theory. More recently, toponymist Craig Weatherhill has put forward the alternative suggestion that it could be from 'Bronn Wennili' which translates as 'Hill of Swallows'.