The place-name could be derived from llan + Brêd, a variant of Ffraid, first recorded in around 1303. It could also possibly be the site of a lost chapel in the parish, Ynys Y Capel, which has a late tradition attached to it that Ffraid landed here.

However, the lack of definite evidence for a chapel site here, and the possibility that Ffraid could simply be the name of a brook that runs into the Eleri and thence to the Dovey, means that the association of the saint Ffraid to the location remains unproven.