Wendell
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Meaning
traditionally wanderer, associated with the Slavic Wends
How popular is Wendell around the world?
In the United States, 489 babies were named Wendell between 2020 and 2025. At the 2022 census, 11,154 people in Brazil were named Wendell, ranked 1,579th, with a median age of 21.
Wendell is on the official records of the United States and Brazil.
United States
1 in 45,000
In the United States, 489 babies were named Wendell between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Wendell peaked in the 1930s and the 1960s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Brazil
1 in 18,000
At the 2022 census, 11,154 people in Brazil were named Wendell, ranked 1,579th, with a median age of 21.
Among people named Wendell living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2000s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 640 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Canada
last on record 2020
Wendell is not on the 2024 record for Canada, where names under 5 in a year are excluded at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Puerto Rico
last on record 2013
Wendell is not on the 2025 record for Puerto Rico, which withholds births under 5, and 31 babies have carried the name there since 1998.
The count never rose above 8 in a year, too few to chart.
First given name only, from Social Security records of births in Puerto Rico; any name-sex-year under 5 births is withheld at source. Shares divide by the Puerto Rico Demographic Registry’s count of births on the island; the 2025 count is provisional. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, territory name file (Puerto Rico)
South Australia
last on record 1974
Wendell is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, England and Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Wendell
Most people given the name Wendell in the United States were born between 1950 and 1989. The Wendell you meet today is most often in his 50s or 60s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Wendell deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Wendell truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Wendell fits with your family’s names and surname.
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