Wendi
A feminine name of ambiguous origin, potentially from the English name "Wendy."
Name Census estimates that about 12,706 living Americans carry the first name Wendi. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Wendi today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wendi births was 1970 (844 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wendi. 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
13K
~ 1 in 26,976 Americans
Peak year
1970
844 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,192
Tracked since 1943
Census
Wendi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,247 people with the first name Wendi, which placed it at #2,050 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
#2,050
National first-name rank
People counted
13K
13,247 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wendi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wendi is White at 83.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.4%) and Black (3.4%). 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 Wendi 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 Wendi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.9% · 11,111
- Hispanic or Latino6.4% · 849
- Black or African American3.4% · 450
- Two or more races3.0% · 395
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 372
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 70
Popularity
Wendi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wendi from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 5,946 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
Wendi 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 Wendi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wendis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Wendi, while South Dakota, Delaware, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 267 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wendi
The name Wendi has its origins in the Germanic languages, particularly Old English and Old Saxon. It is a feminine form of the male name Wend or Wendan, which derives from the word "wenden," meaning "to turn" or "to wander." The name likely originated in the early medieval period, around the 6th to 8th centuries.
In Old English, the name was spelled as "Wændī" or "Wændæ," while in Old Saxon, it was rendered as "Wendī." These variations suggest that the name was in use among the Anglo-Saxon and Saxon populations of what is now England and parts of Germany.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wendi can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landowners and property in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. Here, a woman named Wendi is listed as a landowner in the county of Wiltshire.
During the Middle Ages, the name Wendi appeared sporadically in various historical records and chronicles. In the 13th century, a notable figure named Wendi of Hulenburg was a German noblewoman and landowner in the region of Westphalia.
In the 15th century, a woman named Wendi Braun was a prominent merchant and trader in the city of Nuremberg, known for her successful business dealings in textiles and spices.
Another historical figure bearing the name Wendi was Wendi von Baumbach, a 16th-century German artist and painter who specialized in religious and mythological subjects. Her works adorned several churches and noble residences in the region of Saxony.
In the 17th century, Wendi Schröder was a German botanist and herbalist, renowned for her extensive knowledge of medicinal plants and their uses. She published a widely-read treatise on the subject, which became an important reference work in the field of natural medicine.
While the name Wendi was not as common as some other feminine names in history, it has persisted through the centuries, often associated with women of notable achievements or standing in their respective fields and eras.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Wendi
People
Wendi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wendi 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
Wendi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wendi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,706 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wendi 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 26,976 US residents.
Is Wendi a common name?
We classify Wendi as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,522 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wendi most popular?
The single biggest year for Wendi was 1970, when 844 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wendi is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wendi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,247 people with the name Wendi, or 4.39 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,050 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 Wendi 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 Wendi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wendi appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,242 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Wendi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wendi is White at 83.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.4%) and Black (3.4%). 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 Wendi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Wendi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.9% (11,111 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 Wendi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wendi a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wendi 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 Wendi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wendi 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 Wendi 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 the name Wendi?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Wendi, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.