Glenda is from the Welsh *glân* (clean, holy) + *da* (good) — "holy good." **A top-150 US baby name from 1937 to 1969**. **Glenda Jackson (1936-2023)** — **English actress and politician; **two Academy Awards for Best Actress — *Women in Love* (1970) and *A Touch of Class* (1973)** — at the time the first English actress to win two Best Actress Oscars in four years; four Primetime Emmys, two BAFTAs, and a Tony Award (for *Three Tall Women* 2018)**. **Left acting in 1992 to serve as Labour Member of Parliament for Hampstead and Highgate (1992-2015), focusing on women's rights, foreign affairs, and constitutional reform**. **Returned to acting at age 79 for *King Lear* (2016-2018 in London and Broadway), winning the Tony for the latter at age 82 — among the oldest Best Actress Tony winners**. **CBE (1978)**. **Glinda the Good Witch of the North** — frequently spelled *Glenda* in popular adaptations; played by Billie Burke in *The Wizard of Oz* (1939) and Michelle Yeoh in *Wicked* (2024). **Glenda Bailey** — British editor; *Harper's Bazaar* 2001-2020. **Glenda the Good Witch** is also the central character of Stephen Schwartz's *Wicked* (Broadway 2003, film 2024).
Featured throughout 20th-century English film, theatre, and politics.
Glenda reduces to eight — the number of two Oscars + 23 years in Parliament.