Wende
A German feminine name of uncertain meaning, possibly derived from "wenden" meaning "to turn".
Name Census estimates that about 1,110 living Americans carry the first name Wende. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Wende today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wende births was 1967 (139 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wende. 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
1.1K
~ 1 in 308,788 Americans
Peak year
1967
139 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
1990 SSA rank
#15,193
Tracked since 1943
Census
Wende in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,374 people with the first name Wende, which placed it at #9,900 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
#9,900
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,374 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wende
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wende is White at 84.6%. The next largest groups are Black (4.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.1%). 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 Wende 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 Wende at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.6% · 1,162
- Black or African American4.8% · 66
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 57
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 43
- Two or more races2.8% · 38
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 8
Popularity
Wende: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wende from the 1940s through to the 1990s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 595 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
Wende 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 Wende during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wendes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Wende, while Wisconsin, Virginia, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wende
The name Wende has its origins in the Germanic languages, specifically in Old High German. It is derived from the word "wend," which means "to turn" or "to change direction." The name likely emerged during the medieval period, around the 8th to 12th centuries.
In its earliest usage, the name Wende was associated with the Wendish people, a Slavic ethnic group that inhabited parts of what is now eastern Germany and western Poland. The name may have been used to refer to someone who had changed their allegiance or converted to a different faith or way of life.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wende is in the Annals of Fulda, a medieval chronicle that covers events from the 7th to the 11th century. The Annals mention a nobleman named Wende who participated in a military campaign against the Moravians in the year 869.
In the 12th century, a German abbess named Wende von Hornbach (born around 1135) was known for her piety and leadership of the Hornbach Abbey in present-day Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. She is said to have played a significant role in the spiritual and cultural life of the region during her time.
During the Renaissance period, a German humanist and theologian named Wende Dietrich (1460-1519) gained recognition for his scholarly works and translations of classical Greek texts. He was a professor at the University of Wittenberg and is considered a precursor to the Reformation movement.
In the 17th century, a Swedish military commander named Wende Gottfried von Bauersfeld (1602-1672) distinguished himself in various battles during the Thirty Years' War. He was appointed as a Field Marshal and played a crucial role in the Swedish invasion of Denmark.
Another notable figure with the name Wende was Wende Hildebrandt (1819-1890), a German painter known for her portraits and genre scenes. She studied under prominent artists of her time and exhibited her works at various exhibitions in Berlin and other German cities.
While the name Wende has its roots in the Germanic languages, its usage has been relatively limited throughout history. However, it holds significance as a name with a connection to the Wendish people and the concepts of change and transformation.
People
Wende + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wende 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
Wende: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wende?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,110 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wende 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 308,788 US residents.
Is Wende a common name?
We classify Wende as "Rare". It ranks above 90.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,377 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wende most popular?
The single biggest year for Wende was 1967, when 139 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wende is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wende in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,374 people with the name Wende, or 0.45 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,900 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 Wende 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 Wende?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wende leans strongly female. 1,326 people counted with this name were female (96.3%), compared with 51 male bearers (3.7%). 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 Wende?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wende is White at 84.6%. The next largest groups are Black (4.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.1%). 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 Wende most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Wende in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.6% (1,162 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 Wende in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wende a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wende 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 Wende still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wende 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 Wende 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 common is the name Wende?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Wende at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.