Windie
Of English origin, an inventive name referring to the blowing of winds.
Name Census estimates that about 120 living Americans carry the first name Windie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Windie today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Windie births was 1969 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Windie. 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
120
~ 1 in 2,856,286 Americans
Peak year
1969
14 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
1982 SSA rank
#10,488
Tracked since 1965
Census
Windie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 173 people with the first name Windie, which placed it at #41,949 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
#41,949
National first-name rank
People counted
173
173 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Windie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Windie is White at 70.5%. The next largest groups are Black (16.2%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). 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 Windie 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 Windie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.5% · 122
- Black or African American16.2% · 28
- Two or more races5.2% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1
Popularity
Windie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Windie from the 1960s through to the 1980s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 78 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
Windie 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 Windie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Windies live
Origin
Meaning and history of Windie
The name Windie has its origins in Old English, tracing back to the 7th century AD. It is derived from the Old English words "wind" meaning "air" or "breath," and "ig" meaning "island" or "meadow." The name was likely given to someone who lived in a windy or breezy area, or perhaps someone who was particularly fond of the outdoors and the refreshing breeze.
In ancient Anglo-Saxon texts, the name Windie appeared as a descriptive name for people residing in specific regions known for their windy conditions. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici, a collection of Anglo-Saxon charters and records from the 7th to the 11th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Windie. One of the earliest was Windie the Wise (c. 825 - 892), a renowned scholar and advisor to King Alfred the Great of Wessex. Her wisdom and counsel were highly valued during a period of significant cultural and educational reforms in Anglo-Saxon England.
Another influential figure was Windie of Lindisfarne (c. 950 - 1025), a Benedictine monk and calligrapher known for his beautifully illuminated manuscripts. His works, including the Lindisfarne Gospels, are considered among the finest examples of Insular art from the medieval period.
In the 13th century, Windie of Shrewsbury (c. 1210 - 1278) gained recognition as a skilled herbalist and healer. Her knowledge of medicinal plants and traditional remedies was widely sought after, and she is credited with establishing one of the first apothecaries in England.
During the Renaissance, Windie Boleyn (c. 1475 - 1543) was a notable figure at the court of King Henry VIII. As the sister of Anne Boleyn, she played a pivotal role in court politics and was a trusted confidante of the king.
In more recent times, Windie Mandela (1918 - 2018) was a South African social activist and the former wife of Nelson Mandela. She was a stalwart supporter of the anti-apartheid movement and dedicated her life to promoting social justice and equality.
While the name Windie has fallen out of widespread use in modern times, its historical roots and unique meaning serve as a reminder of the rich tapestry of cultural heritage and linguistic diversity that has shaped our world.
People
Windie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Windie 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
Windie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Windie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 120 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Windie 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 2,856,286 US residents.
Is Windie a common name?
We classify Windie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 135 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Windie most popular?
The single biggest year for Windie was 1969, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Windie is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Windie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 173 people with the name Windie, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,949 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 Windie 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 Windie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Windie leans strongly female. 168 people counted with this name were female (96.6%), compared with 6 male bearers (3.4%). 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 Windie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Windie is White at 70.5%. The next largest groups are Black (16.2%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). 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 Windie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Windie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.5% (122 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 Windie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Windie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Windie 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 Windie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Windie 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 Windie 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 Windie 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.