Wendy
Wendy was given to 165 girls in 2025, #1,347 among girls’ names; 263,276 Americans have been recorded with it since 1918 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 234,000 Americans named Wendy and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (89% of everyone recorded); the median is 57 years old and half are between 49 and 63.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Wendy by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Wendy mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Wendy is “a female given name.”
Popularized by the character in J. M. Barrie’s play, Peter Pan (1904), though occasionally found earlier; the author explained that he got it from Fwendy-Wendy (“friend”), a nickname given to him by a child. Alternatively, from a diminutive of the Welsh Gwendolen; or from Wendelin, a diminutive of Wendel; therefore a doublet of Gwen. A habitational forename meaning, “island at the river bend”, from Old English wende (“watercourse with a bend”) + ēġ (“island”).
/ˈwɛn.di/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Wendy?
#1,347 among girls’ names, 2025
Wendy fell from #944 in 2015 to #1,347 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.16 to 0.10 per 1,000.
11,259 babies in 1967, the peak
Wendy peaked in 1967, when 11,259 babies were given it (11,223 girls, #32 among girls’ names). The 165 births of 2025 are 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 165 | #1,347 | 0.10 |
| 2024 | 225 | #1,097 | 0.14 |
| 2023 | 176 | #1,301 | 0.11 |
| 2022 | 192 | #1,255 | 0.12 |
| 2021 | 196 | #1,214 | 0.12 |
| 2020 | 196 | #1,188 | 0.12 |
| 2019 | 222 | #1,107 | 0.13 |
| 2018 | 273 | #970 | 0.16 |
| 2017 | 230 | #1,101 | 0.13 |
| 2016 | 328 | #860 | 0.19 |
Every recorded year (102)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 288 | #944 | 0.16 |
| 2014 | 359 | #782 | 0.20 |
| 2013 | 395 | #708 | 0.23 |
| 2012 | 359 | #769 | 0.20 |
| 2011 | 419 | #676 | 0.24 |
| 2010 | 498 | #591 | 0.28 |
| 2009 | 600 | #504 | 0.33 |
| 2008 | 688 | #461 | 0.36 |
| 2007 | 864 | #382 | 0.45 |
| 2006 | 930 | #355 | 0.49 |
| 2005 | 901 | #350 | 0.49 |
| 2004 | 1,039 | #308 | 0.57 |
| 2003 | 1,087 | #286 | 0.59 |
| 2002 | 1,209 | #261 | 0.67 |
| 2001 | 1,255 | #253 | 0.70 |
| 2000 | 1,004 | #317 | 0.55 |
| 1999 | 899 | #337 | 0.51 |
| 1998 | 867 | #339 | 0.49 |
| 1997 | 907 | #321 | 0.52 |
| 1996 | 969 | #297 | 0.55 |
| 1995 | 1,039 | #265 | 0.59 |
| 1994 | 1,131 | #246 | 0.63 |
| 1993 | 1,259 | #219 | 0.70 |
| 1992 | 1,269 | #222 | 0.69 |
| 1991 | 1,343 | #216 | 0.72 |
| 1990 | 1,397 | #206 | 0.74 |
| 1989 | 1,341 | #198 | 0.73 |
| 1988 | 1,292 | #203 | 0.73 |
| 1987 | 1,356 | #200 | 0.78 |
| 1986 | 1,517 | #177 | 0.88 |
| 1985 | 1,781 | #162 | 1.0 |
| 1984 | 2,024 | #146 | 1.2 |
| 1983 | 2,388 | #125 | 1.4 |
| 1982 | 2,820 | #105 | 1.7 |
| 1981 | 3,608 | #90 | 2.2 |
| 1980 | 4,141 | #75 | 2.5 |
| 1979 | 4,500 | #64 | 2.8 |
| 1978 | 4,918 | #56 | 3.2 |
| 1977 | 5,764 | #49 | 3.8 |
| 1976 | 6,464 | #39 | 4.4 |
| 1975 | 7,473 | #33 | 5.1 |
| 1974 | 7,564 | #32 | 5.2 |
| 1973 | 7,810 | #29 | 5.4 |
| 1972 | 8,529 | #29 | 5.6 |
| 1971 | 10,063 | #29 | 6.0 |
| 1970 | 11,100 | #28 | 6.3 |
| 1969 | 10,624 | #29 | 6.3 |
| 1968 | 10,709 | #31 | 6.5 |
| 1967 | 11,223 | #32 | 6.8 |
| 1966 | 9,516 | #41 | 5.6 |
| 1965 | 10,481 | #39 | 5.9 |
| 1964 | 8,076 | #55 | 4.3 |
| 1963 | 7,333 | #60 | 3.8 |
| 1962 | 6,977 | #64 | 3.5 |
| 1961 | 7,154 | #61 | 3.5 |
| 1960 | 6,870 | #63 | 3.4 |
| 1959 | 5,712 | #83 | 2.8 |
| 1958 | 4,485 | #107 | 2.2 |
| 1957 | 4,700 | #101 | 2.3 |
| 1956 | 4,861 | #95 | 2.4 |
| 1955 | 4,955 | #90 | 2.5 |
| 1954 | 4,415 | #95 | 2.3 |
| 1953 | 3,616 | #110 | 1.9 |
| 1952 | 3,556 | #105 | 1.9 |
| 1951 | 3,345 | #110 | 1.9 |
| 1950 | 3,030 | #114 | 1.8 |
| 1949 | 2,612 | #122 | 1.5 |
| 1948 | 1,517 | #182 | 0.89 |
| 1947 | 974 | #241 | 0.55 |
| 1946 | 762 | #262 | 0.48 |
| 1945 | 575 | #290 | 0.44 |
| 1944 | 447 | #321 | 0.34 |
| 1943 | 455 | #331 | 0.33 |
| 1942 | 481 | #317 | 0.36 |
| 1941 | 346 | #359 | 0.29 |
| 1940 | 254 | #428 | 0.22 |
| 1939 | 222 | #451 | 0.20 |
| 1938 | 130 | #602 | 0.12 |
| 1937 | 80 | #767 | 0.08 |
| 1936 | 67 | #826 | 0.06 |
| 1935 | 27 | #1,447 | 0.03 |
| 1934 | 10 | #2,918 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 10 | #2,864 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 11 | #2,823 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 9 | #3,217 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 17 | #2,105 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 8 | #3,672 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 5 | #5,413 | under 0.01 |
| 1927 | 16 | #2,335 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 9 | #3,630 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 7 | #4,443 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 5 | #5,560 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Wendy a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Wendy has been given almost only to girls: 951 boys in 102 years of records.
Girls and boys named Wendy: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Wendy, and how old are they?
234,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 89% of the 263,276 Americans ever recorded as Wendy. The median Wendy alive today is 57 years old; half are between 49 and 63.
The 2020 Census counted 257,751 people named Wendy (257,138 women and girls, 613 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 241,620 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 1,500 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 69,000 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 121,000 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 25,900 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 13,400 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,230 |
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).
Where are babies named Wendy born?
The states with the most babies named Wendy are California, New York and Pennsylvania, with 29% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 36,149 | #1,480 | 1.4× |
| New York | 24,341 | #1,308 | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 15,325 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Texas | 12,597 | #1,459 | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 12,488 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 12,050 | #1,624 | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 11,112 | #1,125 | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 8,049 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Wisconsin | 7,957 | #697 | 1.3× |
| Massachusetts | 7,717 | not ranked | 1.1× |
Where Wendy is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Wendy is most over-represented in Utah: since 1918 it was given 1.6 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Wendy with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 6 names spelled alike, given to 283,166 babies since 1880, Wendy is the most given (93% of them). In 2025 it was given to 165 of their 165 babies (100%), again the 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 Wendy
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 Wendy and names like it
- Compare Wendy and WendiBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sWendy peaked in 1967.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Wendy since 1910.
- The top names of 1967The year the most babies were named Wendy.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Wendy alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with WMost given first.