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 [ 2 syll. wan-da, wa-nda ] The girl name Wanda is pronounced WAANDah KEY. Wanda's language of origin is Germanic, and it is used mainly in the English, German, and Polish languages. Derived from the element wend meaning 'Wends, Vandals'. The name is of disputed origin; it is probably associated with the Wends, a Slavonic tribal name in the medieval period, or else from the Old German for 'family'. It could also be of Polish origin, known from Princess Wanda, the legendary daughter of King Krak who became queen of the Poles in the 8th century; her story was first described by the Polish bishop and historian Wincenty Kadlubek (1161-1223). The name was first adopted by English speakers in the 19th century, promoted by its appearance as the name of the heroine in the popular novel Wanda (1883) by the English novelist Ouida. Wanda has 19 variations that are used in both English and foreign languages. Variations of the name used in English include Elwanda, Lawanda, Tawanda, Towanda, Twanda, Vonda, Wandi, Wandie, Wandis, Wenda, Wendeline, Wendi (used in German too), and Wendie. The short form Wan, the pet form Wendy (used in Dutch and German too), and the variant spelling Wonda are other English forms. Vanda (Czech, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Slavic), Wandzia (Polish), and Wanja (Scandinavian) are foreign variations of Wanda. Wanda is uncommon as a baby name for girls. At the height of its usage in 1933, 0.407% of baby girls were given the name Wanda. It ranked at #48 then. The baby name has since experienced a marked drop in popularity, and is of only very modest use today. Within the group of girl names directly linked to Wanda, Wendy (Dutch, English, and German) was the most regularly used in 2008. Baby names that sound like Wanda include Wonda (English), Wandi (English), Wandie (English), Wenda (English), Wendee (English), Wendi (English and German), Wendie (English), Wendy (Dutch, English, and German), Winda, Windy (English), Wynette (Welsh), Waneta (English), Wend (English), Wende (English), Wyanet, and Juanita (Spanish). KEY: Pronunciation for Wanda: W as in "we (W.IY)" ; AA as in "odd (AA.D)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)" ; D as in "dee (D.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"   |
