Girl · Welsh
Gwendolen
Say it: GWEN-doh-lin
Meaning
Welsh; the first element is gwen 'white, fair, blessed', the second is uncertain, perhaps dolen 'ring, loop'.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
Spread by George Eliot's Daniel Deronda and Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.
Its wave through time
Rare in the records
In the United States
- 827 babies given this name since 1903
- At its height in 1903, about 1 in 43,700 girls
- 18 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Gwendolyn, Gwendoline
| Welsh | Gwendolen |
|---|
Famous bearers
- Gwendolyn Brooks, American poet
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Well-known works of literature
- National census records of the 19th and 20th centuries
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.