Glenda
About Glenda
Part nature name, part mid-century favorite, Glenda came into use in the 20th century as a feminine form of Scottish Glenn, likely inspired by Linda and Wanda too. While Glenn would give it the meaning "valley", if you do consider it a smoosh name with Linda, Wanda, or Brenda, you get means such as "beautiful valley", "tender valley", "Wend's valley", "sword valley" or "fire valley".
Could Glenda rise back up the charts as a clunky cool option? Perhaps one day, but with around 20 girls called Glenda in each recent year, it hasn't yet begun to climb.
Pronounced GLEN-duh.
As of October 2026, Glenda ranked #5987 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #79 in 1944.
Editor's take: The name Glenda is a girl's name of Scottish, English origin meaning "valley".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #4,693 | 30 | 16.8 |
| 2015 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | #4,376 | 33 | 18.6 |
| 2017 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | #4,886 | 27 | 16.5 |
| 2022 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | — | 0 | 0 |
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Glenda.
- Darlene
- Jeanne
- Monika
- Marybeth
- Jeanette
- Irma
- Maureen
- Sonya
- Doretta
- Martina
- Janice
- Karolina
- Justine
- Rhonda
- Janine
- Trudie
- Helga
- Christiane
- Lynda
- Charlene
Glenda on lists
Famous Glendas
- Glenda May Jackson
English actress & politician
- Glenda Farrell
American actress
- Glenda Collins
English pop singer
- Glenda Gilmore
American historian of the American South
- Glenda R. Taylor
American scholar and poet
- Glenda Hatchett
American television judge
- Glenda Emilie Adams
Australian novelist
- Glenda Linscott
Rhodesian,Australian actress
- Glenda Dorothy Randerson
New Zealand painter
- Glenda Evans Hood
American politician from Florida
- Glenda Linscott
English Australian actress
- Glenda Goertzen
Canadian children's author
Glenda in pop culture
- "Glen or Glenda
" 1953 film about the transsexual main character
- Glenda Mitchell
character on British soap "EastEnders"
- Glenda Farrell
character on TV's "One Tree Hill"
- Glenda
character in film "Hick"
- Glenda Slagg
parodic columnist in British satirical magazine Private Eye