Humanverse

Wendie vs Wendolyn

American parents have registered 2,200 Wendies since 1880, against 1,176 Wendolyns. But in 2025 it was Wendolyn that was commoner, 8 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Wendie against Wendolyn, 1880 to 2025 0 25 50 75 100 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Wendie Wendolyn

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 78 years in which either name was published, Wendie for 54 years and Wendolyn for 24 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.

Side by side

  Wendie Wendolyn
Total US births 2,2001,176
Most in one year 8939
Babies in 2025 under 58
Estimated living today 1,9001,000
Median age today 5757
Peak year 19701966
Best rank 1,247th girls1,827th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked10,917th
First recorded 19381928
Girls / boys 2,200 / 01,166 / 10

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Wendie and Wendolyn.