Gwen

What Gwen means

Same root as Wendy, meaning “watercourse with a bend + island”

Doublet of Wendy || A habitational forename meaning, "island at the river bend", from Old English wende (“watercourse with a bend”) + ēġ (“island”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Gwen” (revision 94539825) and “Wendy” (revision 93953622), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Gwen?

US: Steady: #748 in 2015, #725 now. England & Wales: Falling: down from #666 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1959, when 942 girls got the name (#295 that year). First in the US records in 1890.

How common

• About 1 in 4,186 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 7,449 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in UT (1.87 per 1,000 girls), ID (0.84 per 1,000 girls), IN (0.5 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Gwen is #725 in the US and #997 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Gwen were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Kween7 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Gwen

Girls

• Gwendolyn#360Variant of Gwendolen, meaning “white, fair, blessed + ring, bow…^*
• Rory#230“red-haired king”^*
• Guinevere#898Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #898 vs #2,788 in 2025
• Nola#821Editor’s note Down from #769 in 2015 to #821 in 2025 in the US
• Ellis#682“benevolent, kind”^*
• Kenna#759“descendant of Cionaodh”^*

For a brother

• Rowan#59“little red one”^*
• Rhys#410Welsh, from Old Welsh Ris, meaning “ardor, fiery warrior”^*
• Kian#400Editor’s note Up from #489 in 2015 to #400 in 2025 in the US
• Declan#139Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #139 vs #372 in 2025
• Ronan#247Irish, meaning “little seal”^*
• Finn#206“the Sami”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Irish & Celtic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Gwen’s. Rank is US 2025.