Winefred
A feminine name of Welsh origin meaning "blessed peacemaker".
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Winefred. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Winefred today is around 85 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Winefred births was 1918 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Winefred. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Winefred is about 85 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Winefreds were born before 1951.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Winefred. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
1918
14 babies that year
Average age
85
years old
1949 SSA rank
#6,051
Tracked since 1916
Popularity
Winefred: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Winefred from the 1910s through to the 1940s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 56 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Winefred 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 Winefred during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Winefred
The name Winefred is of Welsh origin, deriving from the Old Welsh words "gwen" meaning fair, white, or blessed, and "fryd" meaning mind or spirit. It dates back to the 7th century AD and was initially spelled as "Gwenfrewi" or "Gwenfrydig".
The name is associated with the legend of Saint Winefred, a 7th-century Welsh woman who is said to have been beheaded by a prince after she refused his romantic advances. According to the legend, where her head fell, a spring of water emerged, which was believed to have healing properties. Her uncle, Saint Beuno, is said to have restored her to life by rejoining her head to her body.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name can be found in the 12th-century "Life of St. Winefred" by Robert of Shrewsbury. The name gained popularity in medieval Britain and was often associated with piety and devotion to the Christian faith.
Some notable historical figures named Winefred include:
1. Winefred Coombe Tennant (1874-1956), a British political activist and suffragette.
2. Winefred Mary Rich (1880-1937), an English novelist and short story writer.
3. Winefred Mary Letts (1882-1972), a British writer and poet.
4. Winefred Barrett (1888-1986), a British actress and theater manager.
5. Winefred Margaret Rees (1897-1975), a Welsh novelist and playwright.
The name has remained in use throughout the centuries, though its popularity has waxed and waned in different regions. While it retains its Welsh roots, it has also been adopted in other English-speaking countries, sometimes with variations in spelling such as Winnifred or Winifred.
People
Winefred + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Winefred 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
Winefred: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Winefred?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Winefred 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Winefred a common name?
We classify Winefred as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 105 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Winefred most popular?
The single biggest year for Winefred was 1918, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Winefred is about 85 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Winefred in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Winefred a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Winefred 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 Winefred still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Winefred 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 Winefred 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Winefred?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.