Gwenda (given name)
Gwenda is a feminine given name of Welsh origin. It was apparently coined in the 20th century using the Welsh adjectives gwen "white, fair, blessed" and da "good"[1] (though this combination should become *Gwendda under the soft mutation in Welsh),[2] and may also be used as a shortened form of the more common name Gwendolen or a feminine form of Gwyndaf, the name of a Welsh saint.[2]
The name was "regularly used until the 1960s, now rare."[3] Notable bearers include:
- Gwenda Halliday, fictional character in the Agatha Christie novel Sleeping Murder (1976)
- Gwenda Hawkes (1894–1990), English racing driver
- Gwenda Owen (born 1965), Welsh singer
- Gwenda Thomas (born 1942), Welsh politician
See also
- Glenda ("came rather later [than Gwenda] and may have been suggested by this name")[3]
- Gwen (given name)
- Wendy
References
- ↑ "Gwenda." Behind the Name. Mike Campbell. Retrieved 2013-01-02. <BehindtheName.com http://www.behindthename.com/php/view.php?name=gwenda>.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "List of Welsh Forenames (A-M)". The “Cymru-Catalonia” (Wales-Catalonia) Website. 2006-11-27. Retrieved 2013-01-09.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dunkling, Leslie; Gosling, William (1983), The Facts on File Dictionary of First Names, New York: Facts on File Publications, p. 111, ISBN 0-87196-274-8