Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries. In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity in Britain as a feminine name is owed to the character Wendy Darling from the 1904 play '' Peter Pan'' and its 1911 novelisation '' Peter and Wendy'' by J. M. Barrie. Its popularity reached a peak in the 1960s, and subsequently declined. The name was inspired by young Margaret Henley, daughter of Barrie's poet friend William Ernest Henley, W. E. Henley. With the common childhood difficulty Rhotacism (speech impediment), pronouncing ''R''s, Margaret reportedly used to call him "my fwiendy-wendy". In Germany after 1986, the name Wendy became popular because it is the name of a :de:Wendy (Zeitschrift), magazine (targeted specifically at young girls) about horses and horse riding.

People

Business and politics

* Wendy_Davis_(politician), Wendy Davis, American politician * Wendi Deng, Chinese-born American businesswoman * Wendy Morgan (politician), Wendy Morgan, Guernsey politician * Wendy Thomas (born 1961), daughter of fast food chain Wendy's founder Dave Thomas and the company's namesake * Wendy Thomas (politician) (born 1958 or 1959), New Hampshire state representative

Film, theatre, television, and radio

* Wendy Beckett (1930–2018), British religious sister and art historian * Wendy Bergen (1956–2017), American television journalist * Wendy Craig (born 1934), English actress * Wendy Davis (actress), Wendy Davis (born 1966), American actress * Wendy Greengross (1925–2012), English general practitioner and broadcaster * Wendy Hiller (1912–2003), English actress * Wendy Hoopes (born 1972), Malaysian American voice actress * Wendy Kaufman (born 1958), American television personality * Wendie Malick (born 1950), American actress and former fashion model * Wendy Mesley (born 1957), Canadian television journalist and reporter * Wendy Morgan (actress), Wendy Morgan, English actress * Wendy Morgan (director), Wendy Morgan, Canadian film director * Wendy Padbury (born 1947), English actress * Wendi Peters (born 1968), English actress * Wendy Phillips (born 1952), American actress * Wendy Richard (1943–2009), English actress * Wendy Robie (born 1953), American actress * Wendy Raquel Robinson (born 1967), American actress * Wendie Jo Sperber (1958–2005), American actress * Wendy Schaal (born 1954), American actress * Wendy Stites (born 1949), Australian production and costume designer * Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis, Wendy Tilby (born 1960), Canadian animator and director * Wendy Toye (1917–2010), English director and actress * Wendy Williams (British actress), Wendy Williams (1934–2019), English actress * Wendy Williams (born 1964), American television and radio presenter, businesswoman, author, actress and media personality * Wendy O. Williams (1949-1998), American singer and former member of Plasmatics.

Sports

* Wendy Brown (heptathlete), American heptathlete * Wendy Cruz, Dominican Republic cyclist * Wendy Fuller, Canadian diver * Wendy Holdener, Swiss alpine skier * Wendy Lucero, American diver * Wendie Renard, French football player * Wendy Richter, American wrestler * Wendy Vereen (born 1966), American former sprinter * Wendy Weinberg, American Olympic medalist swimmer * Wendy Wyland (1964-2003), American diver

Arts

* Wendy Bagwell (1925–1996), founding member and leader of the Southern gospel music and comedy trio Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters * Wendy Carlos, American composer * Wendy Chung (lyricist), Wendy Chung, Hong Kong pop and C-Pop lyricist * Wendy Cope, English poet * Wendy Davies, British professor of history * Wendy J. Fox, American author * Wendy Holden (author, born 1961), British journalist and author * Wendy Holden (author, born 1965), British chick-lit novelist * Wendy James, Transvision Vamp's singer * Wendy Mass (born 1967), American author especially of young adult and children's novels * Wendy Melvoin, musician and composer and twin sister of Susannah Melvoin * Wendy Partridge, costume designer * Wendy Pepper, fashion designer * Wendy Pini, creator, artist and writer of the fantasy comic book universe ''Elfquest'' * Wendy (singer), Wendy Shon, Korean singer and member of Red Velvet (group), Red Velvet * Wendy Sulca, Peruvian singer * Wendy Wasserstein, American playwright * Wendy Whelan, American ballet dancer and associate artistic director of New York City Ballet * Wendy O. Williams, stripper turned punk rocker and leader of the Plasmatics * Wendy Wilson, pop singer of Wilson Phillips fame and daughter of The Beach Boys singer, Brian Wilson * Wendy Rose (born 1948), Hopi/Miwok writer.

Science and engineering

* Wendy Chung, geneticist * Wendy Gibson, British professor in protozoology * Wendy Lou (born 1962), Canadian statistician * Wendy L. Martinez, American statistician * Wendy Lee Queen (born 1981), American chemist and material scientist

Other

* Murder of Wendy Albano, Wendy Albano (died 2012), American woman who was murdered in Bangkok * Wendy Fitzwilliam, Miss Universe 1998 from Trinidad and Tobago * Wendy M. Masiello, United States Air Force officer * Wendy Metcalfe, Canadian journalist, editor and news executive * Wendi Michelle Scott (born 1975), American criminal convicted of abusing her daughter in a case of Münchausen syndrome by proxy * Wendy Osefo, Academic and The Real Housewives of Potomac cast member

Fictional characters

* Wendy Corduroy in ''Gravity Falls'' * Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog, Wendy Harris in the ''Super Friends'' cartoon and comic book * Wendy Johnson in ''My Parents are Aliens'' * Wendy O. Koopa, one of the Koopalings in Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise * Wendy Marvell in ''Fairy Tail'' * Wendy Peyser in ''American Horror Story: Asylum'' * Wendy Testaburger in ''South Park'' * Wendy Rhoades, wife of Chuck Rhoades and a psychiatrist/performance coach at Axe Capital in ''Showtime (TV network), Showtime'' series ''Billions'' * Wendy Torrance, Winnifred "Wendy" Torrance, one of the main characters in Stephen King's ''The Shining (novel), The Shining'' * Wendy Wu, the titular character of ''Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior'' * Wendy the Good Little Witch in Harvey Comics * List of Bob the Builder characters, Wendy, a character in ''Bob the Builder'' * List of Peppa Pig characters, Wendy Wolf, a character in ''Peppa Pig'' series * Wendy, a playable character in the indie survival game ''Don't Starve'' and its sequel ''Don't Starve Together'' * List of How I Met Your Mother characters#Wendy, Wendy in ''How I Met Your Mother'' * Wendy in French animated series ''Les Sisters'' * Wendy Darling in '' Peter Pan''

References

{{given name English feminine given names English given names invented by fiction writers