Glenda
A feminine name of Celtic origin meaning "fair, pure".
Name Census estimates that about 66,225 living Americans carry the first name Glenda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Glenda today is around 68 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Glenda births was 1950 (4,224 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Glenda. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Glenda with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Glenda is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 295 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Glenda is about 68 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Glendas were born before 1968.
- • Compared to the 1950s, recent registration numbers for Glenda have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
66K
~ 1 in 5,176 Americans
Peak year
1950
4,224 babies that year
Average age
68
years old
1966 SSA rank
#3,676
Tracked since 1900
Census
Glenda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 89,350 people with the first name Glenda, which placed it at #596 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
#596
National first-name rank
People counted
89K
89,350 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
29.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Glenda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Glenda is White at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Black (13.9%) and Hispanic (13.8%). 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 Glenda 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 Glenda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.2% · 60,072
- Black or African American13.9% · 12,457
- Hispanic or Latino13.8% · 12,312
- Two or more races2.3% · 2,078
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 1,602
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 829
Gender
Gender distribution for Glenda
Out of the 109,500 babies given the name Glenda since 1880, 99.7% 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.
Glenda as a male name
- Ranked #3,676 in 1966
- 6 male births in 1966
- Peak: 1943 (19 births)
Glenda as a female name
- Ranked #5,334 in 2024
- 24 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1950 (4,215 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Glenda appears almost entirely female. Of the 89,345 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Glenda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Glenda from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 35,314 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Glenda 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 Glenda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Glendas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Alabama recorded the most babies named Glenda, while New Hampshire, Delaware, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,151 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Glenda
The given name Glenda is derived from the Welsh name Gwenlhian, which means "fair and smooth." It has its roots in the ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Britain, particularly Wales, during the Iron Age and medieval periods.
The name Gwenlhian was popular among the Welsh nobility and is believed to have been used as early as the 6th century AD. It was later anglicized to Glenda, which became a more common spelling in English-speaking regions.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Glenda can be found in the Welsh medieval manuscript known as the "Black Book of Carmarthen," dating back to the 13th century. This manuscript contains a collection of poems and stories from Welsh tradition.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Glenda. One of the earliest recorded examples is Glenda Ferrell (1904-1971), an American actress who appeared in numerous films during the 1930s and 1940s, including notable roles in "Little Caesar" and "The Maltese Falcon."
Another famous Glenda was Glenda Jackson (born 1936), a British actress and former politician. She won two Academy Awards for Best Actress for her performances in "Women in Love" (1970) and "A Touch of Class" (1973). Jackson later pursued a career in politics and served as a Labour Party member of the British Parliament.
In the world of literature, Glenda is the name of the Good Witch of the South in L. Frank Baum's classic novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," published in 1900. This fictional character has become a beloved figure in popular culture and has been portrayed by various actresses in film adaptations.
Glenda Gilson (born 1981) is an Irish television presenter and model who has hosted several shows, including "Xposé" and "Ireland AM." She has also participated in reality shows like "Celebrity Bainisteoir" and "Dancing with the Stars."
Glenda Bailey (born 1958) is a British-born journalist and editor who has served as the editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar magazine since 1992. She has been widely recognized for her contributions to the fashion industry and has received numerous accolades.
While the name Glenda may have originated from Welsh roots, it has gained popularity across various cultures and regions, with notable individuals bearing this name throughout history in various fields, including entertainment, literature, and journalism.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Glenda
People
Glenda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Glenda as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Glenda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Glenda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 66,225 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Glenda 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 5,176 US residents.
Is Glenda a common name?
We classify Glenda as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 109,500 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Glenda most popular?
The single biggest year for Glenda was 1950, when 4,224 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Glenda is about 68 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Glenda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 89,350 people with the name Glenda, or 29.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #596 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 Glenda 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 Glenda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Glenda appears almost entirely female. Of the 89,345 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Glenda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Glenda is White at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Black (13.9%) and Hispanic (13.8%). 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 Glenda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Glenda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.2% (60,072 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 Glenda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Glenda a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Glenda 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 Glenda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Glenda 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 Glenda 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 are named Glenda?
Want to know how many people have the name Glenda? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.