Windy
Feminine
Windy is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 4,971 girls against 12 boys since 1880.
Wendy was invented for a play. J. M. Barrie took it from a small girl who called him her fwendy, turned that into Wendy, and gave it to the girl who flies out of the nursery window in Peter Pan — after which English had a name it had not had before. Windy is that name with one letter changed, which turns it into a description of the weather.
How old is the name Windy?
Windy first appears in US birth records in 1948 — 77 years ago. The typical Windy alive today was born around 1974, making them about 51 years old. About 4,700 people named Windy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Windy most popular?
Windy peaked in 1975, reaching #551 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 12,657 places below that high. See the whole 1975 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Wendy to Windy
The story of Windy
Peter Pan reached the stage in 1904 and the name went with it — within a generation Wendy was in use across the English-speaking world, and it became genuinely popular in the 1950s and 1960s. The i-spelling arrived alongside it and is a straightforward respelling, though it lands squarely on an ordinary adjective. There is also a well-known song of 1967 with this title, which the record's shape suggests may have helped: Windy peaked in 1975.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
If the name is read as Wendy, it has no meaning: Barrie built it from a child's mispronunciation of the word friend, and the name did not exist in any real quantity before the play. If it is read as the English adjective, it means what it says. American families have used both readings, and a name spelled this way is asking for the second.
How the name formed
- Wendy
- Windy
Pronouncing Windy
WIN-dee
Two syllables, stress on the first, said exactly as the adjective is said. Wendy has a different first vowel, so this is one of the few respellings that genuinely changes the sound.
Nicknames for Windy
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
- 1948
- Most girls named
- 1972270 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #551reached in 1975
- Change vs 2022
- −33.3%6 in 2025, from 9
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.
Windys among us
people named Windy are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Windy
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 Patrica test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Windy's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Patrica climbed just as high around 1950, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Patrica's path sketches the road Windy is walking now.
Windy 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
Windy beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Windy in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Everyone can say it and spell it after hearing it once.
- Win is available as a short form and is entirely cheerful.
- It is recorded for boys as well as girls, though nearly all are girls.
- The name it varies has one of the best-documented origins of any English name.
- It is an ordinary English adjective, and the jokes about weather are permanent.
- Wendy is the standard name and will be assumed to be what was meant.
- It belongs to a particular stretch of American naming and dates a woman accordingly.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Windy
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Windys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,700 people named Windy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Windy in 2025?
- Windy ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Windy?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Windy — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Windy with classmates?
- Windy will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Windy
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Windy? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Windy and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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