Wanda is a female

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

origin. It probably derives from the tribal name of the

Wends Wends is a historical name for Slavs who inhabited present-day northeast Germany. It refers not to a homogeneous people, but to various people, tribes or groups depending on where and when it was used. In the modern day, communities identifying ...

.Campbell, Mike
"Meaning, Origin, and History of the Name Wanda"
''Behind the Name.'' Retrieved August 12, 2010. The name has long been popular in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

where the legend of

Princess Wanda Princess Wanda (; reputedly lived in 8th century Poland) was the daughter of the Lechitic King Krakus, legendary founder of Kraków. Upon her father's death she became a ruler of the Poles, but committed suicide to avoid an unwanted marriage. ...

has been circulating since at least the 12th century.Kruszewska, Albina I., & Coleman, Marion M
"The Wanda Theme in Polish Literature and Life."
''American Slavic and East European Review,'' Vol. 6, No. 1/2 (May 1947), pp. 19–35. The American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies. Retrieved August 12, 2010. In 1947, Wanda was cited as the second most popular name, after Mary, for Polish girls, and the most popular from Polish secular history. The name was made familiar in the English-speaking world by the 1883 novel ''Wanda'', written by

Ouida Maria Louise Ramé (1 January 1839 – 25 January 1908), going by the name Marie Louise de la Ramée and known by the pseudonym Ouida ( ), was an English novelist. Ouida wrote more than 40 novels, as well as short stories, children's boo ...

, the story line of which is based on the last years of the

Hechingen Hechingen (; Swabian: ''Hächenga'') is a town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated about south of the state capital of Stuttgart and north of Lake Constance and the Swiss border. Geography The town lies at the foot of th ...

branch of the

Swabia Swabia ; , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of Swabia, one of ...

House of Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, Prince-elector, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern Castle, Hohenzollern, Margraviate of Bran ...

."Ouida's 'Wanda'."
''The New York Times,'' August 13, 1883. Retrieved August 12, 2010. In the United States, Wanda attained its highest popularity in the year 1934, peaking then at No. 47 on the list of names most frequently given to female infants. The name is popularly misinterpreted as meaning "wanderer.""Wanda - Name Meaning & Origin."
''Think Baby Names.'' Retrieved August 12, 2010.

Namesakes

*Wanda Barzee (born 1945), American criminal convicted of the

Kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart Elizabeth Smart, Elizabeth Ann Smart, aged 14, was kidnapping, kidnapped on June 5, 2002, by Brian David Mitchell from her home in the Federal Heights, Salt Lake City, Federal Heights neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah. She was held captive by ...

Wanda Coleman Wanda Coleman (November 13, 1946 – November 22, 2013) was an American poet. She was known as "the L.A. Blueswoman" and "the unofficial poet laureate of Los Angeles". Biography Wanda Evans was born in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, whe ...

(1946–2013), American poet *

Wanda Cowley Wanda McKenzie Cowley (7 September 1924 – 26 September 2017) was a New Zealand children's writer. Biography Cowley was born in Auckland in 1924. She studied at the University of Auckland, completing a bachelor of arts degree and a diploma in ...

(1924–2017), New Zealand children's writer *

Wanda Hazel Gág Wanda is a female given name of Polish origin. It probably derives from the tribal name of the Wends.Campbell, Mike"Meaning, Origin, and History of the Name Wanda" ''Behind the Name.'' Retrieved August 12, 2010. The name has long been popular in P ...

(1893–1946), American author and illustrator of the children's book ''Millions of Cats'' *

Wanda Gertz Major Wanda Gertz (13 April 1896 – 10 November 1958) was a Polish woman of noble birth, who began her military career in the Polish Legion during World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), als ...

(1896–1958) *

Wanda Gołkowska Wanda Gołkowska (17 December 1925 – 7 August 2013) was a Polish artist. Background Gołkowska was born on 17 December 1925, in Rzeszów. She attended the primary school in Grajewo. In 1946, Gołkowska started studying at the Faculty of Huma ...

(1925–2013), Polish artist *

Wanda Guenette Wanda Guenette (born August 31, 1962 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a retired female volleyball player from Canada, who competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. There she ended up in tenth place with the Women's National Team. Later ...

(born 1962), Canadian volleyball player * Wanda Hatfield, Cherokee politician *

Wanda Hawley Wanda Hawley (born Selma Wanda Pittack; July 30, 1895 – March 18, 1963) was an American actress during the silent film era. She entered the theatrical profession with an amateur group in Seattle, and later toured the United States and Cana ...

(1895–1963), American silent film-era actress *

Wanda Hendrix Dixie Wanda Hendrix (November 3, 1928 – February 1, 1981) was an American film and television actress. Early life Hendrix's father was a logging foreman, and she was born in Jacksonville, Florida. She was performing in a school play in Ja ...

(1928–1981), American film actress *Wanda Hutchinson (born 1951), American R&B singer (

the Emotions The Emotions are an American soul/ R&B vocal group from Chicago. The group started out in gospel music but transitioned into R&B and disco music. The Emotions were named by VH1 as one of the 18 most influential girl groups of all time. Hist ...

) *

Wanda Jackson Wanda LaVonne Jackson (born October 20, 1937) is an American retired singer and songwriter. Since the 1950s, she has recorded and released music in the genres of Rock music, rock, Country music, country and Gospel music, gospel. She was among th ...

(born 1937), American rockabilly singer *

Wanda Jakubowska Wanda Jakubowska (10 November 1907 – 25 February 1998) was a Polish film director. Although she directed as many as 15 films over 50 years, Jakubowska is best known for her work on the Holocaust. Her 1948 film '' The Last Stage'' was an early a ...

(1907–1998) *

Maria Wanda Jastrzębska Maria Wanda Jastrzębska (18 October 1924 – 1988) was a Polish People's Republic, Polish Electronic engineering, electronics engineer, and university teacher at Silesian University of Technology and Opole University of Technology. Early life ...

(1924–1988),

electronics engineer Electronic engineering is a sub-discipline of electrical engineering that emerged in the early 20th century and is distinguished by the additional use of active components such as semiconductor devices to amplify and control electric current flow ...

and academic *

Wanda John-Kehewin Wanda John-Kehewin is a Cree-Métis ( Kehewin Cree Nation) author and poet. Early life and education John-Kehewin grew up on the Kehewin reserve in Alberta, but did not grow up speaking the Cree language. She lived with her mother, a Métis wo ...

, Cree-Métis author and poet *

Wanda Józefa Maria Kirchmayer Wanda Józefa Maria Kirchmayer (9 November 1901 – 29 March 1944) was an agricultural engineer and a World War II resistance fighter, and second lieutenant of the Polish Secret Military Organization. Biography Wanda Józefa Maria Kirchmayer w ...

(1901–1944), Polish engineer and resistance fighter *

Wanda Klaff Wanda Klaff (6 March 1922 – 4 July 1946) was a Nazi concentration camp overseer. Klaff was born in Danzig to German parents as Wanda Kalacinski. After the war, she was executed for crimes against humanity. Early life Wanda Kalacinski was ...

(1922–1946), German Nazi concentration camp overseer executed for war crimes *

Wanda Kosakiewicz Wanda Kosakiewicz (; 1917–1989), French theatre actress in the 1940s, was one of Jean-Paul Sartre's love interests and Olga Kosakiewicz's sister. Sartre wrote that she was one of the reasons that his friendship with Albert Camus Albert C ...

(1917–1989), French stage actress and love interest of both Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. Sartre dedicated his ''The Roads to Freedom'' trilogy to her. *

Wanda Krahelska-Filipowicz Wanda Krahelska-Filipowicz (15 December 1886–1968), code name "Alinka" or "Alicja", was a leading figure in Warsaw’s underground resistance movement throughout the years of German occupation during World War II in Poland, co-founder of ...

(1886–1968), World War II anti-Nazi Polish leader *

Wanda Lyzwinska Wanda is a female given name of Polish origin. It probably derives from the tribal name of the Wends.Campbell, Mike"Meaning, Origin, and History of the Name Wanda" ''Behind the Name.'' Retrieved August 12, 2010. The name has long been popular in ...

(born 1953) *

Wanda Landowska Wanda Aleksandra Landowska (5 July 1879 – 16 August 1959) was a Polish harpsichordist and pianist whose performances, teaching, writings and especially her many recordings played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in t ...

(1877–1959) * Wanda Malecka (1800–1860) *

Wanda Panfil Wanda Marianna Panfil-González (born 26 January 1959 in Tomaszów Mazowiecki) is a former long-distance runner from Poland, who won the world title in the women's marathon at the 1991 World Championships in Athletics in Tokyo, Japan. She was m ...

(born 1959) *

Wanda Piłsudska Wanda Piłsudska (7 February 1918 – 16 January 2001) was a daughter of Józef Piłsudski, and a psychiatrist by profession. Life Wanda Piłsudska, of the Piłsudski coat of arms, was the elder daughter of Józef Piłsudski and Aleksandra Pił ...

(1918–2001) *

Wanda Rewieńska Wanda Rewieńska-Pawełkowa (22 November 1897 in Kupriańsk in the Kharkov Governorate – 21 November 1942 in Vilnius) was a Polish geographer, achieved the rank of Scoutmaster in the Polish Scouting Association, and became a resistance fighter ...

(1897–1942) Polish geographer, executed by Nazi occupying forces *

Wanda Rijo Wanda Rijo Contreras (born November 26, 1979) is a female former weightlifter from the Dominican Republic. She twice competed at the Summer Olympics: 2000 and 2004. Rijo won the only gold medal for the Dominican Republic at the 1999 Pan America ...

(born 1979), Dominican Republic weightlifter *

Wanda Rutkiewicz Wanda Rutkiewicz ( 4 February 1943 – 12–13 May 1992) was a Polish mountaineer and computer engineer. She was the first woman to reach the summit of K2 and the third woman (first European woman) to summit Mount Everest. Early life Wanda R ...

(1943–1992), Polish mountain climber * Wanda Soto Tolentino, Puerto Rican politician *

Wanda Stopa Wanda Elaine Stopa (May 5, 1900 – April 25, 1924) was a Polish-American lawyer and murderer who committed suicide the day after committing her crime. Life Stopa was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1900. She emigrated to the United States with h ...

(1900–1924), Polish-American attorney and murderer. *

Wanda Sykes Wanda Yvette Sykes (born March 7, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. She was first recognized for her work as a writer on ''The Chris Rock Show'', for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1999. In 2004, ''Entertainme ...

(born 1962), American actress, comedian, and writer. * Wanda Tinasky (pseudonym) * Wanda Toscanini Horowitz (1907–1998) *

Wanda Vazquez Garced Wanda is a female given name of Polish origin. It probably derives from the tribal name of the Wends.Campbell, Mike"Meaning, Origin, and History of the Name Wanda" ''Behind the Name.'' Retrieved August 12, 2010. The name has long been popular in P ...

(born 1960), Governor of Puerto Rico *

Wanda Ventham Wanda Ventham (born 5 August 1935) is an English actress with many roles on British television since beginning her career in the 1950s. Ventham played Colonel Virginia Lake in the 1970s science-fiction television series '' UFO'' and had a rec ...

(born 1935), English actress *

Wanda Warska Wanda Małolepsza (28 April 1930 – 6 July 2019), known professionally as Wanda Warska, was a Polish jazz singer and composer who worked with her husband Andrzej Kurylewicz and was nicknamed the "First Lady of Polish Jazz". Biography Early li ...

(1930–2019), Polish jazz singer and composer *

Wanda Wasilewska Wanda Wasilewska (), also known by her Russian name Vanda Lvovna Vasilevskaya () (21 January 1905 – 29 July 1964), was a Polish and Soviet novelist and journalist and a left-wing political activist. She was a socialist who became a devoted com ...

(1905–1964) *

Wanda Wiley Wanda Wiley Atkinson (April 20, 1901 – March 29, 1987) was an American silent film actress who appeared in dozens of comedy shorts between 1924 and 1927. Early life and education Wiley was born in New Boston, Texas, the youngest of twelve chil ...

(1901–1987), American actress in silent films *

Wanda Wiłkomirska Wanda Wiłkomirska (11 January 1929 – 1 May 2018) was a Polish violinist and academic teacher. She was known for both the classical repertoire and for her interpretation of 20th-century music, having received two Order of Merit of the Republic o ...

(1929–2018) *

Wanda Young Wanda LaFaye Rogers, née Young (August 9, 1943 – December 15, 2021), was an American singer, known for being a member of the Motown all-female singing group the Marvelettes, and after 1965, the lead singer. Biography Early life Young was ...

(1943–2021), American R&B singer (the Marvelettes)

Characters

, legendary heroine in Polish folk mythology *''

Vanda ''Vanda'', abbreviated in the horticultural trade as ''V.,'' is a genus in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. There are 90 species, and the genus is commonly cultivated for the marketplace. This genus and its allies are considered to be among the ...

'', the title and protagonist of the 1876 Antonín Dvořák grand opera * Wanda Maximoff, alter-ego of the ''Avengers'' comic-book character Scarlet Witch (1964–continuing) ** Wanda Maximoff, a film character based on Scarlet Witch. *''

Wanda Wanda is a female given name of Poland, Polish origin. It probably derives from the tribal name of the Wends.Campbell, Mike"Meaning, Origin, and History of the Name Wanda" ''Behind the Name.'' Retrieved August 12, 2010. The name has long been popu ...

'', protagonist of the 1970 movie of the same name, written, directed and starring Barbara Loden *

Wanda Firebaugh ''Erfworld'' is a story-driven fantasy/comedy webcomic and independently published graphic novel. The series follows Parson, a master strategy gamer summoned into a wargame by a desperate faction desiring a warlord- leaving him trapped in the g ...

, character from the webcomic ''Erfworld'' (2007–continuing) *

Wanda Seldon The ''Foundation'' series is a science fiction book series written by American author Isaac Asimov. First published as a series of short stories and novellas from 1942 to 1950, and subsequently in three collections, for nearly thirty years the ...

, key character in the 1993 novel ''Forward the Foundation'', part of Isaac Asimov's ''Foundation'' series *Wanda, the protagonist of the 1809 stage play ''Wanda'' written by German poet Zacharias Werner and directed by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe *Wanda, heroine of the 1840 narrative poem ''Wanda'' by the Polish poet Cyprian Norwid, C. K. Norwid *Wanda, subject of the 1868 play ''Wanda, the Polish Queen'' by the Croatian dramatist Matija Ban *Wanda von Dunajew, protagonist of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's 1870 novel ''Venus in Furs'' *Wanda von Chabert, the protagonist of the 1881 Guy de Maupassant story ''In Various Roles'' *Wanda von Szalras, heroine of ''Wanda,'' the 1883 novel and stage play by

(Maria Louise Ramé) *Wanda, the protagonist of the 1928 novel ''Wanda (Der Dämon)'' by Nobel Prize-winning novelist Gerhart Hauptmann *Wanda Petronski, the child protagonist of the 1944 novel ''The Hundred Dresses'' by Eleanor Estes *Wanda Cavalli, primary character in the 1952 movie ''The White Sheik'' directed by Federico Fellini *Wanda Von Kreesus, the main character in the 1973–1980 adult comic strip ''Wicked Wanda'' *Wanda Nevada, heroine of the 1979 movie ''Wanda Nevada'' played by Brooke Shields *Wanda Gershwitz and Wanda the goldfish, characters in the 1988 movie ''A Fish Called Wanda'' *Wanda Woodward, character in the 1990 movie ''Cry-Baby'', played by Traci Lords *Wanda, a key character in Todd McFarlane's 1992–continuing ''Spawn (comics), Spawn'' comic-book series, as well as the 1997 movie and 1997-99 TV series *Wanda, the main controllable character in the 1993 video game'' Mario & Wario'' *Wanda, a popular recurring character in the 1990–94 TV series ''In Living Color'' played by actor Jamie Foxx *Wanda, the nickname of the Wandering Swordsman, a member of the Ancient Alliance of Askara, in the 1997 video game Tibia *Wanda, cartoon character from ''The Fairly OddParents'' TV series (2001–2017) *Wanda MacPherson, a character from the Baby Blues (comic strip), comic strip and 2000–2002 TV series ''Baby Blues (American TV series), Baby Blues'' *Wanda, the main character in the 2005 video game ''Shadow of the Colossus'' *Wanda, the human name given to the protagonist in the 2008 Stephenie Meyer novel ''The Host (novel), The Host'' *Wanda Dollard, a character on the 2004–2009 TV series ''Corner Gas'' *Wanda, the character played by Diora Baird in Episode 16, Season 6 (2009) of ''Two and a Half Men'' *Wanda Slater, the character Wilhelmina Slater's actual name in the 2006–2010 TV series ''Ugly Betty''

Music

* ''Kinda Fonda Wanda'' a song by Neil Young on his 1983 album ''Everybody's Rockin'''

References

{{given name Polish feminine given names Slavic feminine given names English feminine given names Feminine given names

Namesakes

Characters

Music

See also

References