Glenda

Spellings & scripts●

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 2 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Glenda is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name416K records spelled Glenda15 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Venezuela, El Salvador

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French

  Also written Glëndä, Glênda, Glènda, Glënda, Glëñdä

• Polish given name4.4K records spelled Glenda9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, United States, Czechia, Slovakia

  Languages: Polish, Russian, Czech

  Also written Гленда, Ґленда

60 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Glenda is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Spanish, Forma femenina de Glen/Glenn; del gaélico gleann, 'valle estrecho y boscoso'.

  as a name·Diccionario etimológico de nombres propios

• In French, Nom gallois moderne, probablement lié à *glân* « pur, propre ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In French, Origine galloise, « pure et bonne ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In German, im 20. Jh. aus dem EngHschen übernommener weibl. Vom. waHsischer Her­ kunft; Neuprägung aus gäl. gian »sauber, rein, heiHg« + da »gut« oder weibliche Form des männlichen Vornamens

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• Valle di montagna

  as a name·Il grande libro dei nomi per bebè. Significato, origini, curiosità. Oltre 7000 nomi per bambine e bambini Significato,…

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 123 years between 1900–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Glenda Farrellb. 1904USAmerican actress (1904–1971)
• Glenda Williamsb. 1912GBEnglish Canadian chef
• Glenda Jacksonb. 1936GBBritish actress and politician (1936–2023)
• Glenda Adamsb. 1939AUAustralian novelist and short story writer (1939–2007)
• Glenda Schroederb. 1950USAmerican software engineer
• Glenda Hatchettb. 1951USAmerican judge
• Glenda Baileyb. 1958GBBritish magazine editor
• Glenda Linscottb. 1958AUAustralian actress
• Glenda Braganzab. 1978CACanadian actress
• Glenda Morejónb. 2000ECEcuadorian racewalker

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 757 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Glenda?

We estimate roughly 117 thousand people bear Glenda (counting its spellings and scripts) across 8 countries in our records.

In which country does Glenda have the most bearers?

We estimate about 89 thousand people bear Glenda in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled glenda.

Where is Glenda most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Glenda is densest in Ecuador — about 1 in 1.3 thousand people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.

How common is Glenda compared with other names?

In the United States, Glenda is the 490th most common given name of 3,122,706 given names recorded there.

Is Glenda a male or female name?

Glenda is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Glenda mean?

Recorded meaning: Welsh: modern coinage, composed of the vocabulary words gldn ‘clean’, ‘pure’, ‘holy’ + da ‘good’.