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Regardless of any possible etymological kinship, I feel Wendy works as a nickname simply because of the sounds it contains. I personally prefer the Welsh Gwendolen spelling ("-yn" endings are masculine in Welsh); the "y" doesn't need to be present to make Wendy a viable nickname, "wend" being plenty. I quite like Wendy. :)

I very much doubt there's any connection. The extremely rare occurrences of Wendy before 1904 are probably down to the fact that it's also a surname. Gwendolen much more naturally shortens to Gwen. But there's no reason why you couldn't use it, although I like it better on its own.

It's possible that it may have been related to Gwendolyn, but it's difficult to say. Regardless, Wendy definitely works as a nickname (although I agree with RoxStar; I don't dislike either Gwendolyn or Winifred myself, but I would rather just see Wendy on its own, honestly).

Wendy can absolutely be used as a nickname for Gwendolyn. The name contains 'Wen' which wendy of course starts with. So it makes perfect sense to me.

1. Sure, why not?
2. Maybe? As the database mentions, I can see it being used as a nn for names containing/derived from the gwen element.

This message was edited 11/19/2015, 9:16 AM

It probably already has been used as short for Gwendolyn, and probably Winifred to. (I think the character in the Shining was Winifred, Wendy for short.) But I'd rather just see it used on its own, because I don't like Gwendolyn or Winifred.

Nothing at all to do with Gwendolyn or any other name. But that's no reason not to use it as a nn for Gwendolyn or any other Gwen name. It's pretty but dated.

Yes, Wendy is a NN for Gwendolyn, and is possibly an original source of the name, according to the database.

This message was edited 11/18/2015, 10:05 PM