Wanda is a female given name of Polish origin. It probably derives from the tribal name of the Wends. The name has long been popular in Poland where the legend of Princess Wanda has been circulating since at least the 12th century. 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, the story line of which is based on the last years of the Hechingen branch of the Swabian House of Hohenzollern. 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 interpreted as meaning "wanderer."
Namesakes
Wanda Barzee (born 1945), American criminal convicted of the Kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart
Wanda Coleman (1946-2013), American poet
Wanda Cowley (born 1924), New Zealand children 's writer
Wanda Hazel Gág (1893–1946), American author and illustrator of the children 's book Millions of Cats
Wanda Gertz (1896– 1958 )
Wanda Guenette (born 1962), Canadian volleyball player
Wanda Hawley (1895-1963), American silent film -era actress
Wanda Hendrix (1928–1981), American film actress
Wanda Hutchinson (born 1951 ), American R&B singer (the Emotions )
Wanda Jackson (born 1937), American rockabilly singer
Wanda Jakubowska (1907– 1998 )
Wanda Klaff (1922–1946), German Nazi concentration camp overseer executed for war crimes
Wanda Kosakiewicz 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 (1886-1968), World War II anti-Nazi Polish leader
Wanda Lyzwinska (c.
