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".