Wendell
Masculine · “a Wend”
Wendell is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 53,763 boys against 567 girls since 1880. See Wendell as a girl name
Wendell is an old surname made into a first name, carried in America by an orator who gave up a comfortable law career for abolition and by a farmer-poet who went home to Kentucky. It is two syllables, solid and unhurried.
How old is the name Wendell?
Wendell was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Wendell alive today was born around 1952, making them about 73 years old. About 29,000 people named Wendell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Wendell most popular?
Wendell peaked in 1940, reaching #114 nationally. Today it ranks #2145, 2,031 places below that high. See the whole 1940 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Wendel to Wendell
The story of Wendell
The Wendell family were early Dutch settlers of Albany, and their surname passed into New England families and from there into first names. Wendell Phillips was a young Boston lawyer from a wealthy family when he watched a mob drag the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison through the streets on a rope; he gave up his practice and became the movement's most famous speaker. A century later Wendell Berry left a teaching job in New York to farm the Kentucky land his family had worked for generations, and wrote about it for the rest of his life. The name is recorded for a few girls, but it is overwhelmingly a boy's.
Meaning
a Wend
From the German name Wendel, which referred to the Wends, the Slavic peoples living in eastern Germany. It came into English use as a surname and then as a first name.
How the name formed
- Wendel
- Wendell
Related forms: Wendel · Wendelin
Pronouncing Wendell
WEN-dul
Stress on the first syllable.
Nicknames for Wendell
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 19401,625 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #114reached in 1940
- Change vs 2022
- −30.2%67 in 2025, from 96
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Wendell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Wendel in German — same name
- Wendelin in German — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Georgia.
Wendells among us
people named Wendell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 25,494 born in 2025 was named Wendell
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Junior test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Wendell's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Junior climbed just as high around 1925, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Junior's path sketches the road Wendell is walking now.
Wendell sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Wendell is headed
Wendell should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Wendell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Wendell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It has a clear history and admirable American namesakes.
- Dell is a ready short form.
- It sounds traditional without being common among new babies.
- Many people hear it as a grandfather's name.
- A very few girls have been given it; for them it will read as a boy's name everywhere.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Wendell to the vote.
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What they receive
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Wendell
Masculine · #2145 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Wendells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 29,000 people named Wendell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Wendell in 2025?
- Wendell ranks #2145 among US boy names in 2025, with 67 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Wendell?
- About 1 in every 25,494 US boys born in 2025 was named Wendell — 67 in all.
- Will my child share the name Wendell with classmates?
- Wendell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Wendell
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Shayan#2145 · Adair#2145 · Hosea#2145 · Banner#2145 · Musab#2145 · Alastair#2145 · Jahsir#2145 · Baylen#2145
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Wendell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Wendell and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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