Wynette
A feminine diminutive form of the name Winifred, derived from Welsh elements meaning "blessed peacemaking".
Name Census estimates that about 616 living Americans carry the first name Wynette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Wynette today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wynette births was 1970 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wynette. 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
616
~ 1 in 556,419 Americans
Peak year
1970
39 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
1992 SSA rank
#15,557
Tracked since 1914
Popularity
Wynette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wynette from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 223 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
Wynette 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 Wynette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wynettes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Wynette
The name Wynette is a feminine given name of English origin, derived from the Old English word "wyn," meaning "joy" or "pleasure." It is believed to have emerged in the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century, as a diminutive form of the name Winifred, which itself comes from the Welsh words "gwyn" (blessed) and "fryd" (beauty).
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wynette can be found in the 14th-century English poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," where a character named Wynette is mentioned. This suggests that the name was in use during the late medieval period in England.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Wynette. One of the most famous was Wynette Wilson (1924-1994), an American country music singer and songwriter. She is best known for her successful duets with her husband, George Jones, and for hits such as "Two Story House" and "Baton Rouge."
Another historical figure named Wynette was Wynette Prentiss (1925-1986), an American actress and singer who appeared in numerous films and television shows during the mid-20th century. She is perhaps best remembered for her role as Molly Layton in the 1960s sitcom "The Real McCoys."
In the literary world, Wynette Hamerman (1923-2008) was a notable American author and editor. She published several books, including the novel "The Sorrow Dance" and a collection of short stories titled "The Vineyard: Stories."
In the field of education, Wynette Anderson (1934-2018) was a renowned American educator and civil rights activist. She dedicated her life to promoting equal educational opportunities for students of all backgrounds and was instrumental in desegregating schools in the southern United States.
Lastly, Wynette Sills (born 1949) is an American businesswoman and philanthropist. She co-founded the multinational corporation Calpine Corporation and has been actively involved in various charitable organizations, including the American Diabetes Association and the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center.
People
Wynette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wynette 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
Wynette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wynette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 616 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wynette 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 556,419 US residents.
Is Wynette a common name?
We classify Wynette as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 956 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wynette most popular?
The single biggest year for Wynette was 1970, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wynette is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Wynette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wynette 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.
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.