Female name
Wendy
525 births (England and Wales, 1996–2025), peaking in 1997. Expression number: 8.
Origin
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”).From Wiktionary, entry “Wendy”, text under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Do you know a Wendy?
Send them the page about their name.
How many babies received it
From the official birth registers.
In England and Wales
Peak in 1997: 27 births. 525 births from 1996 to 2025. A name given mostly in the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s. It is still given: 68 births from 2021 to 2025.
Source: Office for National Statistics, Baby names in England and Wales, Open Government Licence v3.0.
In the United States
Peak in 1967: 11,259 births. 263,276 births from 1880 to 2025. A name given mostly in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. At its peak, it ranked 28th among girls' names in 1970. It really came into use around 1935. It is still given: 954 births from 2021 to 2025.
Source: Social Security Administration, Popular Baby Names, public domain.
In Ireland
Peak in 1977: 71 births. 1,063 births from 1964 to 2025. A name given mostly in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. It really came into use around 1967. Fewer than ten births recorded from 2021 to 2025.
Source: Central Statistics Office, Irish Babies' Names, CC BY 4.0.
Elsewhere in the world
The name in the birth records of the 10 countries we track. The period covered varies from country to country.
| Country | Births | Period | Best rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| France | 14,240 | 1900–2025 | 71st in 1994 |
| Argentina | 2,388 | 2012–2023 | — |
| Switzerland | 629* | 1915–2025 | — |
| Quebec | 455 | 1980–2025 | — |
* These are the people living in the country, counted by year of birth, not the number of births.
Source: INSEE, Fichier des prénoms, Etalab Open Licence 2.0; RENAPER, Nombres propios en Argentina, CC BY 4.0 (the registry doesn't record sex); Federal Statistical Office, First names of the population by year of birth, free use with attribution; Retraite Québec, Banque de prénoms, CC BY 4.0.
The numbers of the name
Each letter has a value: A = 1, B = 2… I = 9, then J = 1 again (Pythagorean method). We add them up, then reduce to a single digit, except 11, 22 and 33.
■ vowel · ■ consonant
Expression
All the letters: talents, the way you act.
8
power, achievement, your relationship with money
5 + 5 + 5 + 4 + 7 = 26 → 8
Soul
The vowels: what drives you deep down.
3
expression, creativity, sociability
5 + 7 = 12 → 3
Personality
The consonants: what others notice first.
5
freedom, change, movement
5 + 5 + 4 = 14 → 5
- Digits missing from the name
- 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9
- Most frequent digit
- 5 · freedom, change, movement
The meaning of the numbers comes from numerological tradition; it isn't a measure of your personality. A full portrait needs your first and middle names, your last name at birth, and your date of birth. How we calculate
Your name and theirs
The number of each name, and the number of the bond, which comes from adding them together. A symbolic game: what your two names say together, to be read as a metaphor, not as a verdict on your relationship.