Gwen

Gwen: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“white, blessed”
Origin
Welsh
Say it
GWEN · 1 syllable
Used for
Girls

A Welsh name used independently and also as a short form of Gwendolen, Gwyneth, and related names. The Welsh element gwen conveys fairness, whiteness, or blessedness.

How popular is Gwen?

2024121 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Gwen in 2024403

2024 rank#698 girls

Peak year1959

Total US babies since 188032,526

Gwen is rising: use over the last five years is 1.7× what it was a decade earlier.

Names like Gwen

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

Gwen questions

What does the name Gwen mean?

Gwen means "white, blessed". It comes from Welsh. A Welsh name used independently and also as a short form of Gwendolen, Gwyneth, and related names. The Welsh element gwen conveys fairness, whiteness, or blessedness.

Is Gwen a boy or girl name?

Gwen is mainly a girl's name in US records (99% of uses since 1880).

How popular is Gwen?

403 US babies were named Gwen in 2024. Its peak year was 1959.

How do you pronounce Gwen?

Gwen is usually pronounced GWEN.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.