Winifred

Welsh
"blessed peacemaking"

Winifred Origin and Meaning

The name Winifred is a girl's name of Welsh origin meaning "blessed peacemaking".

One of the few remaining unrestored vintage gems, with a choice of two winning nicknames--the girlish Winnie and the tomboyish Freddie. Winifred, the name of a legendary Welsh saint, was a Top 200 name into the mid-1920's.

Winifred was one of the Forsytes in The Forsyte Saga, Winifred Foster was the heroine of Tuck Everlasting, and another appeared in Joss Wheden's Angel; in Once Upon a Mattress, Princess Winnifred (two n's) sings the song 'A Girl Named Fred'. The Disney folks seem to have been fond of the name--they used it in Jungle Book, Mary Poppins and Hocus Pocus.

Actress Jacqueline Bisset was born a Winifred and notable Winnies include Mrs. Mandela and the young girlfriend on The Wonder Years.

Formerly considered old and fusty, Winifred is back in, featured amongst the newest additions to the US Top 1000 in 2023.

# 967 in the US

Winifred Rank in US Top 1000

# 178 on Nameberry

Winifred Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Winifred Popularity

Famous People Named Winifred

  • (Una) Winifred Atwell
    Trinidadian pianist
  • Winifred May Birkin
    birth name of English socialite Freda Dudley Ward
  • Winifred Sweet Black Bonfils
    American journalist
  • Winifred "Winnie" Carney
    Irish independence activist and suffragist
  • Winifred Cavendish
    Bentinck, Duchess of Portland, British philanthropist
  • Winifred Rockefeller Emeny
    American socialite, granddaughter of mogul William Rockefeller
  • Maud Isabel "Winifred" Emery
    English stage actress
  • Winifred Greenwood
    American silent film actress
  • Winifred Florence Shotter
    English actress
  • Winifred Margaret Slocock McNair
    English tennis player
  • Winifred Holtby
    English novelist
  • Winifred Lewellin James
    Australian writer
  • Winifred Lamb
    British classical archaeologist
  • Winifred Milius Lubell
    American illustrator and writer
  • Winifred Maxwell
    Countess of Nithsdale, English Catholic noblewoman
  • Winifred Phillips
    American video game composer
  • Winifred Robinson
    English radio presenter
  • (Margaret) Winifred Rushforth
    Scottish psychoanalyst
  • Winifred Sackville Stoner aka Mother Stoner
    founder of the Natural Education movement
  • Winifred Sackville Stoner
    Jr., American poet
  • Winifred Coombe Tennant
    Welsh politician and spiritualist medium
  • Winifred Marjorie Williams Wagner
    wife of composer Siegfried Wagner; daughter,in,law of Richard Wagner
  • Winifred Eileen Watson
    English novelist
  • Winifred Elaine "Wynne" Gibson
    American actress
  • Winifred Wells
    mistress to King Charles II of England
  • Winifred Westover
    American actress
  • Winifred Horan
    American fiddler of groups Cherish the Ladies and Solas

Winifred in Pop Culture

  • Winifred "Winnie" Rose
    character on the TV series "Anne with an E"
  • Dora Winifred "D.W." Read
    character in "Arthur" series by Marc Brown
  • Lady Winifred
    character in "Lady Connie" by Mrs Humphry Ward
  • Princess Winifred
    character in "Once Upon a Mattress"
  • Winifred Banks
    character in "Mary Poppins"
  • Winifred "Fred" Burkle
    character on "Angel"
  • Winifred Dartie
    character in "Forsyte" saga by John Galsworthy
  • Winifred "Winnie" Foster
    character in "Tuck Everlasting"
  • Winifred Fowl
    character on "Jimmy Neutron"
  • Winnifred James
    character in St Clare series by Enid Blyton
  • Winifred Madgers
    in "Mrs Lirriper's Lodgings and Legacy" by Charles Dickens
  • Winifred "Winnie" Perry
    character in "The Winnie Years" by Lauren Myracle
  • Winifred Sanderson
    character in "Hocus Pocus"
  • Winifred Wood
    in "Jack Sheppard" by William Harrison Ainsworth
  • Winifred Portley
    Rind "Winnie" in the film 'The Boxtrolls'
  • Winifred James
    head,girl in the "St Clare" book series by Enid Blyton
  • Sister Winifred
    character on the TV series "Call the Midwife"
  • Winifred "Freddie" Brooks
    character on the TV series "A Different World"
  • Winifred "Freddie" Pink
    character on the TV series "Murdoch Mysteries"
  • St Winefride's Well
    possibly the oldest continually active pilgrimage site in all of Britain