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 Margaret Emma Henley (4 September 1888 – 11 February 1894) was the daughter of William Ernest Henley and his wife Anna Henley (née Boyle). Margaret's friendship with J. M. Barrie, whom she called "fwendy" (i.e., "friendy"), was the inspiration ...

, daughter of Barrie's poet friend

W. E. Henley William Ernest Henley (23 August 184911 July 1903) was an English poet, writer, critic and editor. Though he wrote several books of poetry, Henley is remembered most often for his 1875 poem " Invictus". A fixture in London literary circles, the ...

. With the common childhood difficulty 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

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

(targeted specifically at young girls) about horses and horse riding.

People

Business and politics

* Wendy Davis, American politician * Wendi Deng, Chinese-born American businesswoman * 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 Wendy Mary Beckett (25 February 1930 – 26 December 2018), better known as Sister Wendy, was a British religious sister and art historian who became known internationally during the 1990s when she presented a series of BBC television documentar ...

(1930–2018), British religious sister and art historian *

Wendy Bergen Wendy Anne Bergen (January 3, 1956 – April 26, 2017) was a double Emmy award-winning television journalist. Bergen was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, and graduated from the University of Utah. She began her television career as a weather r ...

(1956–2017), American television journalist *

Wendy Craig Anne Gwendolyn "Wendy" Craig (born 20 June 1934) is an English actress who is best known for her appearances in the sitcoms ''Not in Front of the Children (TV series), Not in Front of the Children'', ''...And Mother Makes Three'', ''...And M ...

(born 1934), English 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, English actress * Wendy Morgan, Canadian film director * Wendy Padbury (born 1947), English actress *

Wendi Peters Wendi Louise Peters (born 29 February 1968) is an English actress. Peters began her acting career in theatre, with appearances in various productions including ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' (1991), ''Guys and Dolls'' (1991), ''Into the Woods'' (199 ...

(born 1968), English actress * Wendy Phillips (born 1952), American actress * Wendy Richard (1943–2009), English actress *

Wendy Robie Wendy Robie is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Nadine Hurley in David Lynch's television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991) and the prequel film '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992). She also starred in two of Wes Cra ...

(born 1953), American actress * Wendy Raquel Robinson (born 1967), American actress * Wendie Jo Sperber (1958–2005), American actress *

Wendy Schaal Wendy Schaal (born July 2, 1954) is an American actress known for her work in Joe Dante films such as '' Innerspace'', ''The 'Burbs'', and '' Small Soldiers''. Her other film credits include starring in films such as ''Where the Boys Are '84'', ...

(born 1954), American actress * Wendy Stites (born 1949), Australian production and costume designer *

Wendy Tilby Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis are a Canadian animation duo. On January 24, 2012, they received their second Oscar nomination, for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) animated short film, '' Wild Life'' (2011). With their latest film, ''The ...

(born 1960), Canadian animator and director * Wendy Toye (1917–2010), English director and 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 Wendy Orlean Williams (May 28, 1949 – April 6, 1998) was an American singer, best known as the lead singer of the punk rock band Plasmatics. She was noted for her onstage theatrics, which included partial nudity, exploding equipment, firing ...

(1949-1998), American singer and former member of

Plasmatics The Plasmatics were an American punk rock, hardcore punk and heavy metal band formed by Rod Swenson and Wendy O. Williams in New York City in 1977. They were a controversial group known for chaotic, destructive live shows and outrageous theat ...

Sports

Wendy Brown (heptathlete) Wendy Renee Brown (born January 28, 1966) is a retired heptathlete and triple jumper from the United States. She competed in the heptathlon at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, finishing in 18th place behind teammate Jackie Joyner K ...

, American heptathlete *

Wendy Cruz Wendy Ramón Cruz Martínez (born 7 March 1976 in Santiago de los Caballeros) is a former professional cyclist from the Dominican Republic. Nicknamed ''El Ciclon'' he won the gold medal in the men's individual road race at the 2007 Pan American ...

, Dominican Republic cyclist * Wendy Fuller, Canadian diver *

Wendy Holdener Wendy Holdener (born 12 May 1993) is a Swiss World Cup alpine ski racer who specialises in slalom and combined. She is a two-time World champion in combined and a five-time Olympic medalist, four individual with one gold medal in the team even ...

, Swiss alpine skier *

Wendy Lucero Wendy Lucero-Schayes (born June 26, 1963 in Denver, Colorado) is a retired female diver from the United States, who competed for her native country at the 1988 Summer Olympics. A native of Denver, CO who attended Southern Illinois University, ...

, American diver * Wendie Renard, French football player *

Wendy Richter Victoria "Wendi" Richter (born September 8, 1961) is an American retired professional wrestling, professional wrestler. She began her professional wrestling career in companies such as the National Wrestling Alliance, where she tag team, teamed ...

, American wrestler *

Wendy Vereen Wenda "Wendy" Vereen (born April 24, 1966) is an American former track and field sprinter who specialized in the 100 and 200-meter dashes. She was the top ranked national runner in high school in 1983 and 1984. She set personal records of 11.17 ...

(born 1966), American former sprinter *

Wendy Weinberg Wendy Weinberg (now Wendy Weinberg Weil; born June 27, 1958) is an American former competition swimmer who was an Olympic Games, Pan American Games, and Maccabiah Games medalist. Swimming career At the 1973 Maccabiah Games in Israel, she won a ...

, American Olympic medalist swimmer * Wendy Wyland (1964-2003), American diver

Arts

Wendy Bagwell Wendell Lee "Wendy" Bagwell (May 16, 1925 – June 13, 1996) was the founding member and leader of the Southern gospel music and comedy trio Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters. Early years The son of Cajer and Arza Bagwell, Bagwell was born in Cha ...

(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 Wendy K. Chung is an American clinical and molecular geneticist and physician. She currently directs the clinical genetics program at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital / Columbia University Medical Center in New York City and serves as the Kenned ...

, Hong Kong pop and C-Pop lyricist * Wendy Cope, English poet * Wendy Davies, British professor of history *

Wendy J. Fox Wendy J. Fox (born 1979) is an American author born in Washington. She is most known as a writer of fiction and has twice been a finalist for the Colorado Book Awards. In 2015, she was nominated for her collection "The Seven Stages of Anger and ...

, American author *

Wendy Holden (author, born 1961) Wendy Holden (born 1961), also known as Taylor Holden, is an author, journalist and former war correspondent who has written more than thirty books. She was born in Pinner, North London and now lives in Suffolk, England. Her bestselling title is ...

, British journalist and author *

Wendy Holden (author, born 1965) Wendy Holden (born 12 June 1965) is a best-selling British novelist. Holden was born and raised in Cleckheaton, West Riding of Yorkshire. She attended Whitcliffe Mount School, and read English at Girton College, Cambridge, graduating from Cam ...

, British chick-lit novelist *

Wendy James Wendy James (born 21 January 1966) is an English singer-songwriter most notable for her work with the pop band Transvision Vamp. Transvision Vamp Born in London to Norwegian parents, James was adopted soon after birth. She left home at the a ...

, Transvision Vamp's singer *

Wendy Mass Wendy Mass (born April 22, 1967) is an author of young adult novels and children's books. Her 2003 novel, '' A Mango-Shaped Space'' won the American Library Association (ALA) Schneider Family Book Award for Middle School in 2004. Her other no ...

(born 1967), American author especially of young adult and children's novels *

Wendy Melvoin Wendy Ann Melvoin (born January 26, 1964) is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Prince as part of his backing band The Revolution, and for her collaboration with Lisa Coleman as one half of the duo Wendy ...

, musician and composer and twin sister of Susannah Melvoin * Wendy Partridge, costume designer *

Wendy Pepper Anne Eustis Pepper Stewart (August 23, 1964 – November 12, 2017), known as Wendy Pepper, was a fashion designer who appeared on the first season of the reality television show ''Project Runway'', which aired on Bravo from December 2004 throu ...

, fashion designer *

Wendy Pini Wendy Pini ''née'' Fletcher, (born June 4, 1951) and Richard Pini (born July 19, 1950) are the husband-and-wife team responsible for creating the well-known '' Elfquest'' series of comics, graphic novels and prose works. They are also known a ...

, creator, artist and writer of the fantasy comic book universe '' Elfquest'' * Wendy Shon, Korean singer and member of Red Velvet *

Wendy Sulca Wendy Sulca Quispe (born 22 April 1996) is a Peruvian singer of Huayno music, who found fame thanks to YouTube, where her videos "La Tetita" ("The tittie"), "Cerveza, Cerveza" ("Beer, beer") and "Papito" ("Daddy") have enjoyed success. Career ...

, Peruvian singer * Wendy Wasserstein, American playwright *

Wendy Whelan Wendy Whelan (; born May 7, 1967) is an American ballet dancer. She was principal dancer with the New York City Ballet and performed with the company for 30 years, and toured in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Whelan has also been an influential gue ...

, American ballet dancer and associate artistic director of New York City Ballet *

, stripper turned punk rocker and leader of the Plasmatics * Wendy Wilson, pop singer of

Wilson Phillips Wilson Phillips is an American pop group formed in Los Angeles in 1989. The group consists of Carnie Wilson and Wendy Wilson, the daughters of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, and Chynna Phillips, the daughter of John and Michelle Phillips of th ...

fame and daughter of The Beach Boys singer,

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...

Wendy Rose Wendy Rose (born May 8, 1948) is a Hopi/Miwok writer. Having grown up in an environment which placed little emphasis on both her Native American and white background, much of her verse deals with her search for her personal identity. She is als ...

(born 1948), Hopi/Miwok writer.

Science and engineering

, geneticist *

Wendy Gibson Wendy Gibson is Professor of Protozoology at University of Bristol, specialising in trypanosomes and molecular parasitology. Career Wendy C. Gibson studied B. Sc. Zoology at University College London, UK graduating in 1975 followed by a doctor ...

, British professor in protozoology *

Wendy Lou Wen-Yi Wendy Lou is a biostatistician who works as a professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health of the University of Toronto. Her research interests include the theory of runs and patterns in sequence data and applications of statistics t ...

(born 1962), Canadian statistician *

Wendy L. Martinez Wendy L. Martinez (née Poston) is an American statistician. She directs the Mathematical Statistics Research Center of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and is the coordinating editor of the journal ''Statistics Surveys'' (jointly sponsored by four ...

, American statistician *

Wendy Lee Queen Wendy Lee Queen (born 1981 in South Carolina) is an American chemist and material scientist. Her research interest focus on development design and production of hybrid organic/inorganic materials at the intersection of chemistry, chemical eng ...

(born 1981), American chemist and material scientist

Other

Wendy Albano 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 ...

(died 2012), American woman who was murdered in Bangkok * Wendy Fitzwilliam, Miss Universe 1998 from Trinidad and Tobago *

Wendy M. Masiello Wendy Lee Motlong Masiello (born 1958 in Lubbock, Texas) retired as a lieutenant general in the United States Air Force on May 24, 2017. From May 2014 to May 24, 2017, she was the director of the Defense Contract Management Agency, based in For ...

, United States Air Force officer *

Wendy Metcalfe Wendy Metcalfe (born 1975 or 1976) is a Canadian journalist, editor and news executive who served as the first female editor-in-chief of the ''Toronto Sun'' newspaper between 2013 and 2015, and of the ''Ottawa Sun'' newspaper from 2014 to 2015. Si ...

, 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 Wendy Onyinye Osefo (née Ozuzu, born May 21, 1984) is a Nigerian-American political commentator, public affairs academic, and television personality. She is an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins School of Education. She is also a main cast memb ...

, Academic and

The Real Housewives of Potomac ''The Real Housewives of Potomac'' (abbreviated ''RHOP'') is an American reality television series that premiered on January 17, 2016, on Bravo. It has aired six seasons and focuses on the personal and professional lives of several women living ...

cast member

Fictional characters

Wendy Corduroy The Disney Channel television series ''Gravity Falls'' created by Alex Hirsch features an extensive cast of characters. All of the characters listed have appeared in the first and second seasons. Overview Main * Dipper Pines (voiced by Ja ...

in '' Gravity Falls'' * Wendy Harris in the ''Super Friends'' cartoon and comic book * Wendy Johnson in ''

My Parents are Aliens ''My Parents Are Aliens'' is a British children's television sitcom that was produced for eight series by Yorkshire Television and aired on ITV from 8 November 1999 to 18 December 2006. Overview The show primarily follows the lives of three or ...

'' * Wendy O. Koopa, one of the Koopalings in ''Mario'' franchise * Wendy Marvell in '' Fairy Tail'' *

Wendy Peyser The second season of the American horror anthology television series ''American Horror Story'', subtitled ''Asylum'', takes place in 1964 and follows the stories of the staff and inmates who occupy the fictional mental institution Briarcliff Mano ...

in '' American Horror Story: Asylum'' * Wendy Testaburger in ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...

'' * Wendy Rhoades, wife of Chuck Rhoades and a psychiatrist/performance coach at Axe Capital in ''

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

'' series ''Billions'' * Winnifred "Wendy" Torrance, one of the main characters in Stephen King's '' The Shining'' * Wendy Wu, the titular character of '' Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior'' *

Wendy the Good Little Witch Wendy the Good Little Witch is a fictional comic book character from Harvey Comics. Like Casper the Friendly Ghost and Hot Stuff the Little Devil, Wendy is an opposite-type character, a girl witch who does good deeds. Publication history Wendy ...

in Harvey Comics * Wendy, a character in '' Bob the Builder'' * Wendy Wolf, a character in '' Peppa Pig'' series * Wendy, a playable character in the indie survival game ''

Don't Starve ''Don't Starve'' is a survival video game developed by the Canadian indie video game developer Klei Entertainment. The game was initially released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux on April 23, 2013. A PlayStation 4 port, renamed ''Don't ...

'' and its sequel ''Don't Starve Together'' * Wendy in ''

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005 to March 31, 2014, follows the main character, Ted Mosby, and his ...

'' * 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