Windell
Masculine · “Germanic Wendel”
Windell is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 3,006 boys against 21 girls since 1880.
There is no wind in this name. Wendell comes from Wendel, a word for a Slav of the Elbe, and the i is a respelling that invites a reading the name never had. A changed letter creates an etymology, and the new one usually sticks.
How old is the name Windell?
Windell first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Windell alive today was born around 1951, making them about 74 years old. About 1,700 people named Windell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Windell most popular?
Windell peaked in 1940, reaching #545 nationally. Today it ranks #9714, 9,169 places below that high. See the whole 1940 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Wendel to Windell
The story of Windell
Respelling does more than change letters: it changes what a reader thinks a name means. Windell looks like it contains wind, and readers supply the association automatically, because that is how reading works. The same thing has happened repeatedly and permanently in English vocabulary. Crayfish has nothing to do with fish; it is French ecrevisse, reinterpreted. Sparrowgrass was what English speakers made of asparagus. Belfry contains no bell; it is a Germanic word for a siege tower, and the bells arrived by association. Hangnail is not about hanging. Woodchuck is not about wood. In each case a misreading became the standard form and then generated a false but universally believed meaning. A respelled name is at the beginning of exactly that process, and nothing prevents it from finishing.
Meaning
Germanic Wendel, a Wend
Windell is a respelling of Wendell, a German surname from the medieval given name Wendel, referring to a Wend, the Germanic term for the Slavic peoples of the Elbe. It has no connection to the English word wind, which the i spelling suggests. The American peak is 1940.
How the name formed
- Wendel
- Wendell
- Windell
Related forms: Wendell · Wendel
Pronouncing Windell
WIN-dul
Two syllables, stress on the first. Windell and Wendell are near-homophones; the first vowel differs slightly for speakers who distinguish pin and pen.
Nicknames for Windell
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
- 1914
- Most boys named
- 1941117 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #545reached in 1940
- Change vs 2022
- +40.0%7 in 2025, from 5
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.
Windell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Wendell in English — spelling variant
- Wendel in German — related form
Windells among us
people named Windell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 244,011 born in 2025 was named Windell
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 Ignatius test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Windell's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ignatius climbed just as high around 1906, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ignatius's path sketches the road Windell is walking now.
Windell 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
Windell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Windell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Del works as a short form and is a name in its own right.
- Two syllables with a firm first-syllable stress.
- The pronunciation is obvious from the spelling.
- Wendell is the standard spelling.
- The i invites a false connection to the word wind.
- The 1940 peak places it in the war years.
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What they receive
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Windell
Masculine · #9714 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Windells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Windell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Windell in 2025?
- Windell ranks #9714 among US boy names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Windell?
- About 1 in every 244,011 US boys born in 2025 was named Windell — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Windell with classmates?
- Windell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Windell
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vern#9714 · Abrahm#9714 · Sid#9714 · Hartwell#9714 · Kwan#9714 · Adrean#9714 · Chancey#9714 · Bob#9714
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Windell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Windell 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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