Wendee
A feminine name of American origin meaning "to pursue, wander".
Name Census estimates that about 666 living Americans carry the first name Wendee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Wendee today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wendee births was 1971 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wendee. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
666
~ 1 in 514,646 Americans
Peak year
1971
49 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
1993 SSA rank
#15,726
Tracked since 1948
Census
Wendee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 767 people with the first name Wendee, which placed it at #15,110 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#15,110
National first-name rank
People counted
767
767 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wendee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wendee is White at 84.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.7%) and Black (3.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Wendee described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Wendee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.5% · 648
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 36
- Black or African American3.4% · 26
- Two or more races3.4% · 26
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 7
Popularity
Wendee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wendee from the 1940s through to the 1990s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 308 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wendee by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Wendee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wendees live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Michigan, Utah recorded the most babies named Wendee, while Wisconsin, Washington, Utah recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 24 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wendee
The name Wendee is a modern English spelling variation of the Old English name Wenda or Wende. It is derived from the Germanic root "wend," meaning "to go" or "to journey." This root is also found in the Old English word "wendan," meaning "to turn" or "to change direction."
The earliest known record of the name Wenda dates back to the 9th century in Anglo-Saxon England. It was initially a masculine name, but over time, it also became used as a feminine name. The name Wenda was particularly popular among the Anglo-Saxon nobility and aristocracy during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Wenda was Wenda, a 9th-century Anglo-Saxon noblewoman and abbess of the monastery at Ely in East Anglia, England. She lived during the reign of King Egbert of Wessex and was known for her piety and dedication to religious life.
In the 11th century, the name Wenda appeared in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landholdings and households in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This suggests that the name was still in use among the English population at that time.
During the Middle Ages, the name Wenda was also found in various chronicles and historical records, such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the works of the Venerable Bede. However, it gradually fell out of common use by the late medieval period.
Notable historical figures with the name Wenda or its variations include:
1. Wenda, 9th-century Anglo-Saxon abbess of Ely (mentioned above).
2. Wenda of Warenne, a 12th-century Norman noblewoman and wife of William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey.
3. Wende von Brabant, a 13th-century German noblewoman and wife of Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV.
4. Wendelin von Trier, a 7th-century Frankish abbot and saint, known as the patron saint of shepherds and herdsmen.
5. Wende Capstick, a 20th-century American artist and illustrator known for her work in the field of children's literature.
The modern spelling variation "Wendee" emerged in the 20th century, likely as a feminized form of the name Wendell, which itself is derived from the Old English "Wendhyll" meaning "winding hill." While not as common as some other names, Wendee has remained a unique and distinctive name choice for girls throughout the English-speaking world.
People
Wendee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wendee as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Wendee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wendee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 666 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wendee going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 514,646 US residents.
Is Wendee a common name?
We classify Wendee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 790 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wendee most popular?
The single biggest year for Wendee was 1971, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wendee is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wendee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 767 people with the name Wendee, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,110 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Wendee in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Wendee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wendee appears almost entirely female. Of the 775 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Wendee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wendee is White at 84.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.7%) and Black (3.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Wendee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Wendee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.5% (648 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Wendee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wendee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wendee in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Wendee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wendee in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Wendee can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Wendee as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.