Gwendolen
Gwendolen was given to 11 girls in 2025, #9,069 among girls’ names; 889 Americans have been recorded with it since 1903 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Gwendolen by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Gwendolen mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Gwendolen is “a female given name from Welsh.” Its etymology gives the senses “white, fair, blessed” (gwen) and “ring, bow, hair, brow” (dolen).
From Welsh Gwendolen, from gwen (“white, fair, blessed”) + dolen (“ring, bow, hair, brow”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Gwendolen?
#9,069 among girls’ names, 2025
Gwendolen fell from #5,028 in 2015 to #9,069 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 15.1 to 6.8 per million.
34 babies in 1971, the peak
Gwendolen peaked in 1971, when 34 girls were given it, #2,306 among girls’ names. The 11 births of 2025 are 32% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 11 | #9,069 | 6.8 |
| 2024 | 13 | #8,117 | 8.0 |
| 2023 | 17 | #6,754 | 10.6 |
| 2022 | 11 | #9,261 | 6.7 |
| 2021 | 10 | #9,815 | 6.1 |
| 2020 | 18 | #6,431 | 11.1 |
| 2019 | 14 | #7,875 | 8.3 |
| 2018 | 13 | #8,299 | 7.6 |
| 2017 | 15 | #7,590 | 8.7 |
| 2016 | 27 | #5,045 | 15.2 |
Every recorded year (75)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 27 | #5,028 | 15.1 |
| 2014 | 22 | #5,859 | 12.3 |
| 2013 | 16 | #7,517 | 9.1 |
| 2012 | 9 | #11,596 | 5.1 |
| 2011 | 7 | #13,851 | 4.0 |
| 2010 | 7 | #13,985 | 3.9 |
| 2009 | 6 | #15,922 | 3.3 |
| 2008 | 8 | #13,014 | 4.2 |
| 2007 | 5 | #18,603 | 2.6 |
| 2005 | 9 | #11,209 | 4.9 |
| 2004 | 6 | #14,794 | 3.3 |
| 2002 | 6 | #14,204 | 3.3 |
| 1998 | 5 | #14,958 | 2.8 |
| 1996 | 5 | #14,277 | 2.9 |
| 1990 | 6 | #11,888 | 3.2 |
| 1984 | 5 | #10,980 | 3.0 |
| 1983 | 9 | #6,905 | 5.4 |
| 1982 | 7 | #8,536 | 4.1 |
| 1981 | 9 | #6,986 | 5.4 |
| 1980 | 11 | #6,048 | 6.6 |
| 1979 | 11 | #5,876 | 6.9 |
| 1978 | 16 | #4,325 | 10.4 |
| 1977 | 20 | #3,664 | 13.0 |
| 1976 | 21 | #3,320 | 14.3 |
| 1975 | 24 | #2,994 | 16.5 |
| 1974 | 27 | #2,703 | 18.4 |
| 1973 | 21 | #3,155 | 14.4 |
| 1972 | 17 | #3,611 | 11.2 |
| 1971 | 34 | #2,306 | 20.4 |
| 1970 | 18 | #3,477 | 10.3 |
| 1969 | 17 | #3,368 | 10.1 |
| 1968 | 27 | #2,382 | 16.5 |
| 1967 | 20 | #2,810 | 12.1 |
| 1966 | 31 | #2,113 | 18.3 |
| 1965 | 10 | #4,302 | 5.7 |
| 1964 | 18 | #3,035 | 9.5 |
| 1963 | 12 | #3,873 | 6.2 |
| 1962 | 9 | #4,658 | 4.6 |
| 1961 | 5 | #6,927 | 2.5 |
| 1960 | 8 | #4,919 | 4.0 |
| 1959 | 13 | #3,503 | 6.4 |
| 1958 | 10 | #4,035 | 5.0 |
| 1957 | 9 | #4,342 | 4.4 |
| 1956 | 20 | #2,563 | 10.0 |
| 1955 | 6 | #5,439 | 3.1 |
| 1954 | 6 | #5,368 | 3.1 |
| 1952 | 6 | #5,133 | 3.2 |
| 1951 | 6 | #5,065 | 3.3 |
| 1949 | 6 | #4,893 | 3.5 |
| 1947 | 6 | #4,956 | 3.4 |
| 1941 | 7 | #3,722 | 5.8 |
| 1935 | 8 | #3,271 | 7.6 |
| 1933 | 5 | #4,482 | 5.0 |
| 1931 | 8 | #3,329 | 7.5 |
| 1929 | 5 | #4,876 | 4.5 |
| 1926 | 9 | #3,378 | 7.6 |
| 1925 | 8 | #3,831 | 6.6 |
| 1923 | 6 | #4,629 | 5.0 |
| 1921 | 5 | #5,438 | 4.1 |
| 1919 | 10 | #3,095 | 8.8 |
| 1916 | 5 | #4,722 | 4.8 |
| 1915 | 6 | #3,971 | 6.1 |
| 1911 | 7 | #2,056 | 16.7 |
| 1909 | 6 | #2,062 | 17.3 |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,680 | 22.9 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Gwendolen a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Gwendolen has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 75 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Gwendolen: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Gwendolen, and how old are they?
An estimated 742 Americans named Gwendolen and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (83% of everyone recorded); the median is 49 years old and half are between 12 and 58. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 682 people named Gwendolen (682 women and girls, 0 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 691 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% below that prediction.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 7 names spelled alike, given to 129,239 babies since 1880, Gwendolen is the fourth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 11 of their 910 babies (1.2%), again the fourth most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
More about Gwendolen and names like it
- Compare Gwendolen and GwendolynBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sGwendolen peaked in 1971.
- Welsh namesWiktionary’s origin for Gwendolen: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1971The year the most babies were named Gwendolen.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Gwendolen alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with GMost given first.