Wendal
Wendal was last recorded in 1987, when 5 babies were given it; 194 Americans have been recorded with it between 1918 and 1987 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Wendal by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Wendal?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #8,097, in 1987; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
11 babies in 1955, the peak
Wendal peaked in 1955, when 11 boys were given it, #2,553 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | 5 | #8,097 | 2.7 |
| 1971 | 5 | #5,637 | 2.8 |
| 1968 | 5 | #4,734 | 2.9 |
| 1967 | 7 | #3,549 | 4.0 |
| 1965 | 7 | #3,529 | 3.8 |
| 1964 | 7 | #3,593 | 3.5 |
| 1963 | 5 | #4,600 | 2.5 |
| 1962 | 6 | #4,024 | 2.9 |
| 1961 | 6 | #4,048 | 2.8 |
| 1960 | 8 | #3,328 | 3.8 |
Every recorded year (30)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | 5 | #4,553 | 2.3 |
| 1958 | 10 | #2,807 | 4.7 |
| 1957 | 5 | #4,537 | 2.3 |
| 1955 | 11 | #2,553 | 5.3 |
| 1953 | 5 | #4,315 | 2.5 |
| 1949 | 6 | #3,678 | 3.4 |
| 1940 | 8 | #2,862 | 6.9 |
| 1938 | 7 | #3,166 | 6.3 |
| 1937 | 7 | #3,165 | 6.6 |
| 1936 | 10 | #2,447 | 9.6 |
| 1935 | 5 | #4,129 | 4.8 |
| 1931 | 5 | #4,299 | 4.8 |
| 1930 | 7 | #3,582 | 6.4 |
| 1929 | 7 | #3,543 | 6.5 |
| 1924 | 6 | #4,333 | 5.3 |
| 1923 | 7 | #3,810 | 6.4 |
| 1922 | 5 | #4,939 | 4.6 |
| 1921 | 6 | #4,306 | 5.4 |
| 1919 | 5 | #4,786 | 5.1 |
| 1918 | 6 | #4,158 | 5.9 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Wendal a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Wendal has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 30 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Wendal: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Wendal, and how old are they?
An estimated 86 Americans named Wendal and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026, too few to state an age range. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 245 people named Wendal (12 women and girls, 233 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 102 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.4 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Wendal rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
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).
How common is the spelling Wendal?
Wendal is a less common spelling of Wendall: SSA has recorded 194 Wendal and 2,439 Wendall since 1880.
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 59,110 babies since 1880, Wendal is the fourth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 80 babies recorded by SSA was a Wendal (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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 Wendal and names like it
- Compare Wendal and WendallBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sWendal peaked in 1955.
- The top names of 1955The year the most babies were named Wendal.
- Names starting with WMost given first.