 Josef Braun explains the name Brennhausen in his place-names book as "the houses by a water source", meaning, in this case, a spring.Braun bases his statement on the fact that immediately next to the settlement, a stream springs forth which flows into the river Saale.Braun discovered that the form "Brenn-" is a written form, changed from the spoken dialect, which is based on the old form "Brünn."