Wendel
Wendel was given to 5 boys in 2025, #13,788 among boys’ names; 2,147 Americans have been recorded with it since 1911 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,130 Americans named Wendel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (53% of everyone recorded); the median is 58 years old and half are between 43 and 71.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Wendel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Wendel mean?
Wiktionary, German section
Wendel is “a male given name, variant of Wendelin”
/ˈvɛndl̩/
Meaning: Wiktionary, German section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Wendel?
#13,788 among boys’ names, 2025
Wendel entered the boys’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #13,788 in 2025.
45 babies in 1940, the peak
Wendel peaked in 1940, when 45 boys were given it, #965 among boys’ names. The 5 births of 2025 are 11% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #13,788 | 2.9 |
| 2024 | 8 | #9,816 | 4.6 |
| 2023 | 7 | #10,748 | 4.1 |
| 2022 | 7 | #10,771 | 4.0 |
| 2021 | 11 | #7,549 | 6.3 |
| 2019 | 6 | #12,052 | 3.3 |
| 2018 | 5 | #13,981 | 2.8 |
| 2016 | 6 | #12,094 | 3.2 |
| 2014 | 8 | #9,579 | 4.2 |
| 2012 | 8 | #9,663 | 4.2 |
Every recorded year (107)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 11 | #7,467 | 5.8 |
| 2010 | 6 | #12,133 | 3.1 |
| 2009 | 6 | #12,404 | 3.0 |
| 2008 | 10 | #8,283 | 4.9 |
| 2007 | 6 | #12,286 | 2.9 |
| 2006 | 5 | #13,929 | 2.4 |
| 2005 | 8 | #9,058 | 4.0 |
| 2004 | 7 | #9,890 | 3.5 |
| 2002 | 7 | #9,346 | 3.6 |
| 2001 | 6 | #10,491 | 3.1 |
| 1999 | 6 | #9,852 | 3.1 |
| 1998 | 12 | #5,446 | 6.3 |
| 1996 | 11 | #5,516 | 5.8 |
| 1995 | 9 | #6,382 | 4.7 |
| 1994 | 5 | #10,184 | 2.6 |
| 1993 | 11 | #5,338 | 5.6 |
| 1991 | 10 | #5,493 | 4.9 |
| 1990 | 7 | #7,146 | 3.4 |
| 1989 | 15 | #3,796 | 7.5 |
| 1988 | 14 | #3,696 | 7.3 |
| 1987 | 13 | #3,715 | 7.0 |
| 1986 | 11 | #4,118 | 6.0 |
| 1985 | 14 | #3,392 | 7.6 |
| 1984 | 9 | #4,541 | 5.0 |
| 1983 | 10 | #4,129 | 5.6 |
| 1982 | 11 | #3,957 | 6.1 |
| 1981 | 13 | #3,406 | 7.3 |
| 1980 | 21 | #2,440 | 11.8 |
| 1979 | 13 | #3,348 | 7.6 |
| 1978 | 12 | #3,394 | 7.3 |
| 1977 | 19 | #2,455 | 11.6 |
| 1976 | 16 | #2,706 | 10.2 |
| 1975 | 20 | #2,284 | 12.8 |
| 1974 | 20 | #2,194 | 12.7 |
| 1973 | 22 | #1,978 | 14.1 |
| 1972 | 27 | #1,720 | 16.7 |
| 1971 | 31 | #1,593 | 17.5 |
| 1970 | 38 | #1,372 | 20.4 |
| 1969 | 24 | #1,725 | 13.4 |
| 1968 | 21 | #1,785 | 12.1 |
| 1967 | 23 | #1,648 | 13.2 |
| 1966 | 25 | #1,577 | 14.0 |
| 1965 | 24 | #1,623 | 12.9 |
| 1964 | 23 | #1,697 | 11.5 |
| 1963 | 37 | #1,303 | 18.2 |
| 1962 | 26 | #1,586 | 12.6 |
| 1961 | 32 | #1,437 | 15.1 |
| 1960 | 31 | #1,460 | 14.5 |
| 1959 | 45 | #1,170 | 21.1 |
| 1958 | 41 | #1,220 | 19.3 |
| 1957 | 25 | #1,631 | 11.6 |
| 1956 | 32 | #1,383 | 15.1 |
| 1955 | 37 | #1,253 | 18.0 |
| 1954 | 24 | #1,591 | 11.8 |
| 1953 | 32 | #1,354 | 16.2 |
| 1952 | 37 | #1,225 | 19.0 |
| 1951 | 33 | #1,292 | 17.5 |
| 1950 | 38 | #1,179 | 21.2 |
| 1949 | 26 | #1,460 | 14.7 |
| 1948 | 24 | #1,516 | 13.7 |
| 1947 | 29 | #1,392 | 15.9 |
| 1946 | 26 | #1,407 | 16.0 |
| 1945 | 19 | #1,578 | 14.1 |
| 1944 | 24 | #1,398 | 17.6 |
| 1943 | 35 | #1,169 | 24.5 |
| 1942 | 33 | #1,227 | 23.9 |
| 1941 | 36 | #1,107 | 29.3 |
| 1940 | 45 | #965 | 38.8 |
| 1939 | 28 | #1,271 | 25.3 |
| 1938 | 33 | #1,148 | 29.8 |
| 1937 | 23 | #1,442 | 21.6 |
| 1936 | 39 | #1,027 | 37.6 |
| 1935 | 22 | #1,491 | 21.1 |
| 1934 | 25 | #1,385 | 24.2 |
| 1933 | 28 | #1,279 | 28.2 |
| 1932 | 36 | #1,139 | 34.5 |
| 1931 | 30 | #1,281 | 28.9 |
| 1930 | 30 | #1,329 | 27.3 |
| 1929 | 23 | #1,563 | 21.4 |
| 1928 | 20 | #1,755 | 18.1 |
| 1927 | 28 | #1,434 | 24.8 |
| 1926 | 35 | #1,241 | 31.5 |
| 1925 | 24 | #1,581 | 21.5 |
| 1924 | 26 | #1,531 | 23.0 |
| 1923 | 21 | #1,750 | 19.2 |
| 1922 | 32 | #1,306 | 29.4 |
| 1921 | 15 | #2,259 | 13.6 |
| 1920 | 19 | #1,883 | 17.9 |
| 1919 | 17 | #1,969 | 17.3 |
| 1918 | 22 | #1,645 | 21.7 |
| 1917 | 16 | #1,980 | 17.3 |
| 1916 | 22 | #1,546 | 24.7 |
| 1915 | 23 | #1,452 | 27.1 |
| 1914 | 14 | #1,769 | 21.4 |
| 1913 | 12 | #1,672 | 23.4 |
| 1912 | 9 | #1,880 | 20.9 |
| 1911 | 5 | #1,988 | 22.1 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Wendel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Wendel has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 107 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Wendel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Wendel, and how old are they?
1,130 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 53% of the 2,147 Americans ever recorded as Wendel. The median Wendel alive today is 58 years old; half are between 43 and 71.
The 2020 Census counted 1,483 people named Wendel (43 women and girls, 1,440 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,248 born in the U.S. The Census count is 19% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Wendel rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 105 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 397 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 313 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 155 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 96 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 63 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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 4 names spelled alike, given to 59,110 babies since 1880, Wendel is the third most given (3.6% of them). In 2025 it was given to 5 of their 80 babies (6.3%), again the third 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.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Wendel
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Wendel and names like it
- Compare Wendel and WendellBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1940sWendel peaked in 1940.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Wendel since 1910.
- German namesWiktionary’s origin for Wendel: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1940The year the most babies were named Wendel.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Wendel alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with WMost given first.