Wynema
Feminine
Wynema is the title of a novel published in the eighteen-nineties, and it is generally held to be the first novel written by a Native American woman. The book was almost completely forgotten for a century.
How old is the name Wynema?
Wynema first appears in US birth records in 1907 — 118 years ago. The typical Wynema alive today was born around 1933, making them about 92 years old. About 200 people named Wynema are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Wynema most popular?
Wynema peaked in 1934, reaching #1236 nationally. See the whole 1934 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Wynema
S. Alice Callahan was Muscogee, the daughter of a tribal official, and she wrote one short novel before dying of pleurisy at twenty-six. It is about a Muscogee girl and a white teacher, and it turns partway through into a furious account of the Ghost Dance and the killings at Wounded Knee, which had happened a matter of months before she wrote. The book sank, stayed out of print for about a hundred years, and was recovered by scholars in the nineteen-nineties, since when it has been argued about steadily: its politics, its debts to sentimental fiction, and what it means that the first such novel is also a protest written while the news was still arriving.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The name appears to have been coined for the novel, which presents it as Muscogee. No independent documentation of it as a name in that language has been established, and the American record does not explain its later use.
Pronouncing Wynema
wy-NEE-muh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. The first is the long i of why.
Nicknames for Wynema
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
- 1907
- Most girls named
- 193433 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1236reached in 1934
- Change vs 1975
- −28.6%5 in 1977, from 7
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.
Wynemas among us
people named Wynema are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Wynema sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Wyn comes off the front as a short form and is established in its own right.
- Three open syllables carry well and are easy to hear across a room.
- It is genuinely rare in the American record, which few names can honestly claim.
- The literary connection is real but obscure, so it will need explaining every time.
- The name's status in Muscogee is not established, which is worth being straight about.
- It will be heard as Winema or Wilma by people catching it once.
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Wynema
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Wynemas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Wynema are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Wynema in 2025?
- Wynema is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Wynema with classmates?
- Wynema will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More W names
The most-given names starting with W, all years combined.
Wanda#5917 · Wendy#1341 · Willie#10107 · Wilma#3645 · Whitney#1043 · Willow#44 · Winifred#922 · Willa#422
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Wynema? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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