Wendy
 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 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
Business and politics
- Wendy Bourne, Australian politician
- Wendy Dant Chesser, American politician
- Wendy Davis (politician) (born 1963), American politician
- Wendi Deng (born 1968), Chinese-born American businesswoman
- Wendy Hausman, American 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 (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
- Wendy Makkena (born 1958), American actress
- 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 (born 1958), English actress
- Wendy Morgan, Canadian film director
- Wendy Pack, from The Howard Stern Show
- 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
- Wendy Brown (heptathlete) (born 1966), American heptathlete
- Wendy Cruz (born 1976), Dominican Republic cyclist
- Wendy Fuller (born 1965), Canadian diver
- Wendy Holdener (born 1993), Swiss alpine skier
- Wendy Lucero-Schayes (born 1963), American diver
- Wendie Renard (born 1990), French football player
- Wendy Richter (born 1960), American wrestler
- Wendy Vereen (born 1966), American former sprinter
- Wendy Weinberg (born 1958), 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 (born 1939), American composer
- Wendy Chung (born 1968), Hong Kong pop and C-Pop lyricist
- Wendy Cope (born 1945), English poet
- Wendy Davies (born 1942), British professor of history
- Wendy J. Fox (born 1979), American author
- Wendy Heard, American author
- Wendy Holden (author, born 1961), British journalist and author
- Wendy Holden (author, born 1965), British chick-lit novelist
- Wendy Kirkland (jazz musician), British jazz pianist, singer and composer
- Wendy James (born 1966), Transvision Vamp's singer
- Wendy Mass (born 1967), American author especially of young adult and children's novels
- Wendy Melvoin (born 1964), American musician and composer and twin sister of Susannah Melvoin
- Wendy Partridge (born 1954), British-Canadian costume designer
- Wendy Pepper (1964–2017), American fashion designer
- Wendy Pini (born 1951), American creator, artist and writer of the fantasy comic book universe Elfquest
- Wendy Shon (born 1994), Korean singer and member of Red Velvet
- Wendy Sulca (born 1996), Peruvian singer
- Wendy Wasserstein (1950–2006), American playwright
- Wendy Whelan (born 1967), American ballet dancer and associate artistic director of New York City Ballet
- Wendy Wilson (born 1969), American pop singer and daughter of The Beach Boys singer, Brian Wilson
- Wendy Rose (born 1948), American Hopi/Miwok writer
Science and engineering
- Wendy Campbell-Purdie (1925–1985), New Zealand tree-planter
- Wendy Chung, American 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
- Wendy Albano (died 2012), American woman who was murdered in Bangkok
- Wendy Fitzwilliam (born 1972), Miss Universe 1998 from Trinidad and Tobago
- Wendy M. Masiello (born 1958), United States Air Force general
- 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 (born 1984), Nigierian-American public affairs academic, political commentator and The Real Housewives of Potomac cast member
- Wendy Wolin (1958–1966), American murder victim
Fictional characters
- 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)
- Agent Wendy Pleakley in Disney's Lilo & Stitch franchise
References
- ^ Peacey, Jason. "Print and principals: John Lilburne, civil war radicalism and the Low Countries" (PDF). discovery.ucl.ac.uk.
- ^ "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.