Gwenda vs Gwendolynn
American parents have registered 2,264 Gwendas since 1880, against 1,454 Gwendolynns. But in 2025 it was Gwendolynn that was commoner, 34 babies to fewer than five.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Gwenda Gwendolynn
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 103 years in which either name was published, Gwenda for 52 years and Gwendolynn for 51 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.
- 1921–1922 Gwenda ahead
- 1923–1926 Gwendolynn ahead
- 1927–1975 Gwenda ahead
- 1976–1977 Gwendolynn ahead
- 1978 Gwenda ahead
- 1979–2025 Gwendolynn ahead
Side by side
| Gwenda | Gwendolynn | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 2,264 | 1,454 |
| Most in one year | 109 | 41 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 34 |
| Estimated living today | 1,700 | 1,300 |
| Median age today | 69 | 24 |
| Peak year | 1952 | 2023 |
| Best rank | 884th girls | 3,709th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 4,172nd |
| First recorded | 1921 | 1921 |
| Girls / boys | 2,264 / 0 | 1,454 / 0 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Gwendas alive today are over 69; half the Gwendolynns are over 24. That is 45 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Gwenda Arkansas (6.3×), Mississippi (5.2×), Oklahoma (4.4×)
- Gwendolynn California (5.1×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Both names abroad
Countries whose statistics office publishes both names, so the comparison can be made somewhere other than the United States.
| Country | Gwenda | Gwendolynn |
|---|---|---|
| France | 5 | 10 |
Every spelling a country files separately is added together, over whatever years that country publishes — which is not the same range in any two of them, so read the columns against each other and not the rows.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Gwenda and Gwendolynn.