Wendell

Where Wendell comes from

Short form of Germanic compound names beginning with the tribal name Wendel-, "a Wend".
— Wiktionary's entry for Wendell
  • Germanic
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #809 among boys — 6 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1892
    Wendell Willkie born
    American lawyer and corporate executive
  3. 1904
    Wendell Meredith Stanley born
    American biochemist and virologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
  4. 1940
    Peak, #114
    1,625 babies named Wendell — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1943
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #199.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from the Germanic languages transferred back from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Wendell Meredith Stanley · American biochemist and virologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1904–1971
  • Wendell Willkie · American lawyer and corporate executive, 1892–1944
  • Wendell Nascimento Borges · Brazilian footballer, born 1993
  • Wendell Berry · American writer, activist, and poet from Kentucky, 1934–2026
  • Wendell Pierce · American actor and businessman, born 1963

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.