Center Navbar links without brand pushing it to the right in Bootstrap 4?

This happens because of the way adjacent flexbox items position relative to each other.

One option is to use the flexbox utils, and a full width placeholder element on right. The navbar-brand is also set to full-width using w-100 util class.

<nav class="navbar navbar-toggleable navbar-inverse bg-primary justify-content-center">
    <button class="navbar-toggler navbar-toggler-right" type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#navbarCenter">
        <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
    </button>
    <a href class="navbar-brand d-flex w-100 mr-0">Brand is Wider Name</a>
    <div class="navbar-collapse collapse" id="navbarCenter">
        <ul class="navbar-nav mx-auto text-center">
            <li class="nav-item">
                <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
            </li>
            <li class="nav-item">
                <a class="nav-link" href="#">Center</a>
            </li>
            <li class="nav-item">
                <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </div>
    <div class="d-flex w-100"> </div>
</nav>

http://www.codeply.com/go/N7veP8FMqg

Another option is to absolute position the .navbar-nav..

@media (min-width: 567px) {
    .abs-center-x {
        position: absolute;
        top: 5px;
        left: 50%;
        transform: translateX(-50%);
    }
}

https://www.codeply.com/go/RCBftzZCD8

Related:
Bootstrap 4 menu toggle button to left and right, with brand in center
How the LOGO could be CENTERED and Not collapsing and toggle icon should appear on left in the Navbar?