Wendolyn
Feminine name of Celtic origin meaning "white wave" or "white trail".
Name Census estimates that about 944 living Americans carry the first name Wendolyn. It is a predominantly female name (99.1% of registrations). The average person named Wendolyn today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wendolyn births was 1966 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wendolyn. 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
944
~ 1 in 363,087 Americans
Peak year
1966
39 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
1952 SSA rank
#4,245
Tracked since 1928
Census
Wendolyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,106 people with the first name Wendolyn, which placed it at #11,542 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
#11,542
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,106 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wendolyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wendolyn is White at 42.4%. The next largest groups are Black (29.1%) and Hispanic (24.7%). 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 Wendolyn 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 Wendolyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.4% · 469
- Black or African American29.1% · 322
- Hispanic or Latino24.7% · 273
- Two or more races1.6% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Wendolyn
Out of the 1,168 babies given the name Wendolyn since 1880, 99.1% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Wendolyn as a male name
- Ranked #4,245 in 1952
- 5 male births in 1952
- Peak: 1932 (5 births)
Wendolyn as a female name
- Ranked #13,375 in 2023
- 7 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1966 (39 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wendolyn leans strongly female. 1,088 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 13 male bearers (1.2%).
Popularity
Wendolyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wendolyn from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 324 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wendolyn 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 Wendolyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wendolyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Texas, California, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Wendolyn, while Ohio, Louisiana, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wendolyn
The name Wendolyn is a feminine given name of English origin, derived from the Old English words "wend" meaning "to travel" and "lyn" meaning "lake" or "pool." It is believed to have emerged during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, around the 5th to 11th centuries AD.
Wendolyn was a relatively uncommon name in medieval England, but it appeared sporadically in historical records and literature. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name was in the Domesday Book of 1086, where a woman named Wendolyn was listed as a landowner in the county of Gloucestershire.
In the 13th century, a notable figure named Wendolyn of Dunstable was a respected nun and chronicler who documented the events of her time at the Priory of St. Mary in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. Her chronicle, known as the Annals of Dunstable, provided valuable insights into the history of medieval England.
During the Renaissance period, the name Wendolyn gained some popularity among the English gentry. In 1542, a woman named Wendolyn Fitzwilliam was recorded as the daughter of Sir William Fitzwilliam, a prominent courtier and landowner in Yorkshire.
In the 17th century, Wendolyn Portman, born in 1621, was a notable figure in the English Civil War. She was a staunch Royalist who supported King Charles I and played a role in the defense of her family's estate, Bryanston House, against the Parliamentarian forces.
Another historical figure with the name Wendolyn was Wendolyn Howard, born in 1768. She was an English author and poet who published several works, including a collection of poems titled "The Sylvan Wanderer" in 1813.
While not a widespread name throughout history, Wendolyn has maintained a presence in various records and literature, reflecting its English origins and connections to the concept of travel and bodies of water. Its unique blend of Old English elements has contributed to its distinct character and enduring legacy.
People
Wendolyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wendolyn 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
Wendolyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wendolyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 944 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wendolyn 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 363,087 US residents.
Is Wendolyn a common name?
We classify Wendolyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,168 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wendolyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Wendolyn was 1966, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wendolyn is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wendolyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,106 people with the name Wendolyn, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,542 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 Wendolyn 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 Wendolyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wendolyn leans strongly female. 1,088 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 13 male bearers (1.2%). 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 Wendolyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wendolyn is White at 42.4%. The next largest groups are Black (29.1%) and Hispanic (24.7%). 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 Wendolyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Wendolyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.4% (469 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 Wendolyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wendolyn a female name?
Yes, 99.1% of people registered as Wendolyn 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 Wendolyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wendolyn 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 Wendolyn 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 Wendolyn as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.