 Wendy Darling drawn by Oliver Herford in The Peter Pan Alphabet | |
| Pronunciation | (/ˈwɛndi/) |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Language(s) | English |
| Other names | |
| Alternative spelling | Wendi |
| Related names | Gwendolyn, Gwen, Wendeline, Wendelinda, Winifred |
Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries.
In Britain during the English Civil War in the mid-1600s, a male Captain Wendy Oxford was identified by the Leveller John Lilburne as a spy reporting on his activities.[1][2] It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century.[3] 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, both by J. M. Barrie.[4][5][6] Its popularity reached a peak in the 1960s, and subsequently declined.[7] The name was inspired by young Margaret Henley, daughter of Barrie's poet friend W. E. Henley. Margaret reportedly used to call Barrie "my friendy", with the common childhood difficulty pronouncing Rs this came out as "my fwendy" and "my fwendy-wendy".[8][9]
In Germany after 1986, the name Wendy became popular because it is the name of a magazine (targeted specifically at young girls) about horses and horse riding.
People[edit]
Business and politics[edit]
- 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[edit]
- 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 (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
- Wendi McLendon-Covey (born 1969), American actress and comedian
- 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 (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 (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 (1949-1998), American singer and former member of Plasmatics.
Sports[edit]
- 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[edit]
- 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, 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 Shon, Korean singer and member of 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[edit]
- Wendy Campbell-Purdie (1925–1985) was a New Zealand tree-planter
- 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[edit]
- 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, Public affairs academic, political commentator and The Real Housewives of Potomac cast member
- Wendy Wolin (1958–1966), American murder victim
Fictional characters[edit]
- Wendy Corduroy in Gravity Falls
- 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 the Mario franchise
- Wendy Marvell in Fairy Tail
- Wendy Peyser in American Horror Story: Asylum
- Wendy Byrde in Ozark
- Wendy Testaburger in South Park
- Wendy Rhoades, wife of Chuck Rhoades and a psychiatrist/performance coach at Axe Capital in Showtime 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 in Harvey Comics
- Wendy, a character in Bob the Builder
- Wendy Wolf, a character in Peppa Pig
- Wendy, a playable character in the indie survival game Don't Starve and its sequel Don't Starve Together
- Wendy in How I Met Your Mother
- Wendy, a Chow Chow from the 2018 Australian show Bluey
- Wendy Darling in Peter Pan
- Wendy Harris in Mom (TV series)
References[edit]
- ^ https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10038330/1/Peacey_BookChapter_Lilburne%20article3b.pdf
- ^ "An English Civil War 1649 hand written letter from Captain Wendy Oxford pledging funds to various". 9 March 2023.
- ^ James Heath, John Phillips (1675). A Chronicle of the Late Intestine War in the Three Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland (2nd ed.). London: J.C. for Thomas Basset. p. 480.
- ^ Was the name Wendy invented for the book Peter Pan? at The Straight Dope
- ^ Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges, Dictionary of First Names, 1990
- ^ "Before this, the name simply didn't exist! The History of the name "Wendy"". Archived from the original on June 27, 2001.
- ^ "Wendy - Meaning and Origin of the Name Wendy | BabyNames.co.uk".
- ^ "The History of Wendy". Archived from the original on 2009-03-18. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
- ^ Winn, Christopher (2005). I Never Knew That About England. Ebury Press. p. 4. ISBN 9780091902070.