Wendy
Wendy is a Welsh feminine given name.
In Britain during the English Civil War in the mid-1600s, a male Captain Wendy Oxford was identified by the Leveller John Lilburne as a spy reporting on his activities. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity in Britain as a feminine name is owed to the character Wendy Darling from the 1904 play Peter Pan and its 1911 novelisation Peter and Wendy, both by J. M. Barrie. Its popularity reached a peak in the 1960s, and subsequently declined. The name was inspired by young Margaret Henley, daughter of Barrie's poet friend W. E. Henley. Margaret reportedly used to call Barrie "my friendy", with the common childhood difficulty pronouncing Rs this came out as "my fwendy" and "my fwendy-wendy".
In Germany after 1986, the name Wendy became popular because it is the name of a magazine about horses and horse riding.
People
Business and politics
- Wendy Alexander, Scottish politician
- Wendy Bourne, Australian politician
- Wendy Dant Chesser, American politician
- Wendy Davis , American politician
- Wendi Deng, Chinese-born American businesswoman
- Wendy Hausman, American politician
- Wendy Larson, American politician
- Wendy Morgan, Guernsey politician
- Wendy Thomas, daughter of fast food chain Wendy's founder Dave Thomas and the company's namesake
- Wendy Thomas , New Hampshire state representative
Film, theatre, television, and radio
- Wendy Beckett, British religious sister and art historian
- Wendy Bergen, American television journalist
- Wendy Craig, English actress
- Wendy Davis, American actress
- Wendy Greengross, English general practitioner and broadcaster
- Wendy Hiller, English actress
- Wendy Hoopes, Malaysian American voice actress
- Wendy Kaufman, American television personality
- Wendy Makkena, American actress
- Wendie Malick, American actress and former fashion model
- Wendi McLendon-Covey, American actress and comedian
- Wendy Mesley, Canadian television journalist and reporter
- Wendy Morgan, English actress
- Wendy Morgan, Canadian film director
- Wendy Pack, from The Howard Stern Show
- Wendy Padbury, English actress
- Wendi Peters, English actress
- Wendy Phillips, American actress
- Wendy Richard, English actress
- Wendy Robie, American actress
- Wendy Raquel Robinson, American actress
- Wendie Jo Sperber, American actress
- Wendy Schaal, American actress
- Wendy Stites, Australian production and costume designer
- Wendy Tilby, Canadian animator and director
- Wendy Toye, English director and actress
- Wendy Williams, English actress
- Wendy Williams, American television and radio presenter, businesswoman, author, actress and media personality
- Wendy O. Williams, American singer and former member of Plasmatics
Sports
- Wendy Brown , American heptathlete
- Wendy Cruz, Dominican Republic cyclist
- Wendy Fuller, Canadian diver
- Wendy Holdener, Swiss alpine skier
- Wendy Lucero-Schayes, American diver
- Wendie Renard, French football player
- Wendy Richter, American wrestler
- Wendy Vereen, American former sprinter
- Wendy Weinberg, American Olympic medalist swimmer
- Wendi Willits Wells, American basketball coach
- Wendy Wyland, American diver
Arts
- Wendy Bagwell, founding member and leader of the Southern gospel music and comedy trio Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters
- Wendy Carlos, American composer
- Wendy Chung, Hong Kong pop and C-Pop lyricist
- Wendy Cope, English poet
- Wendy Davies, British professor of history
- Wendy J. Fox, American author
- Wendy M. Grossman, journalist, blogger, and folksinger
- Wendy Heard, American author
- Wendy Holden, British journalist and author
- Wendy Holden, British chick-lit novelist
- Wendy James, Transvision Vamp's singer
- Wendy Mass, American author especially of young adult and children's novels
- Wendy Melvoin, American musician and composer and twin sister of Susannah Melvoin
- Wendy Partridge, British-Canadian costume designer
- Wendy Pepper, American fashion designer
- Wendy Pini, American creator, artist and writer of the fantasy comic book universe Elfquest
- Wendy Shon, Korean singer and member of Red Velvet
- Wendy Sulca, Peruvian singer
- Wendy Wasserstein, American playwright
- Wendy Whelan, American ballet dancer and associate artistic director of New York City Ballet
- Wendy Wilson, American pop singer and daughter of The Beach Boys singer, Brian Wilson
- Wendy Rose, American Hopi/Miwok writer
Science and engineering
- Wendy Campbell-Purdie, New Zealand tree-planter
- Wendy Chung, American geneticist
- Wendy Gibson, British professor in protozoology
- Wendy Lou, Canadian statistician
- Wendy L. Martinez, American statistician
- Wendy Lee Queen, American chemist and material scientist
Other
- Wendy Albano, American woman who was murdered in Bangkok
- Wendy Carlin, Australian professor of economics
- Wendy Fitzwilliam, Miss Universe 1998 from Trinidad and Tobago
- Wendy M. Masiello, United States Air Force general
- Wendy Metcalfe, Canadian journalist, editor and news executive
- Wendi Michelle Scott, American criminal convicted of abusing her daughter in a case of Münchausen syndrome by proxy
- Wendy Osefo, Nigierian-American public affairs academic, political commentator and The Real Housewives of Potomac cast member
- Wendy Wolin, American murder victim
Fictional characters
- Wendy Corduroy in Gravity Falls
- Wendy in the 2006 ps2 horror game rule of rose
- Wendy Harris in the Super Friends cartoon and comic book
- Wendy Johnson in My Parents are Aliens
- Wendy O. Koopa, one of the Koopalings in the Mario franchise
- Wendy Marvell in Fairy Tail
- Wendy Peyser in American Horror Story: Asylum
- Wendy Byrde in Ozark
- Wendy Testaburger in South Park
- Wendy Rhoades, wife of Chuck Rhoades and a psychiatrist/performance coach at Axe Capital in Showtime series Billions
- Winnifred "Wendy" Torrance, one of the main characters in Stephen King's The Shining
- Wendy Wu, the titular character of Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior
- Wendy the Good Little Witch in Harvey Comics
- Wendy, a character in Bob the Builder
- Wendy Wolf, a character in Peppa Pig
- Wendy, a playable character in the indie survival game Don't Starve and its sequel Don't Starve Together
- Wendy, a character in the 2013-2014 web series The Misfortune of Being Ned
- Wendy in How I Met Your Mother
- Wendy, a Chow Chow from the 2018 Australian show Bluey
- Wendy Darling in Peter Pan
- Wendy Harris in Mom
- Agent Wendy Pleakley in Disney's Lilo & Stitch franchise
- Wendy, from the Papa Louie video games