# Wilhelm (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/wilhelm/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | German |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Wilham |
| US babies named this | 1,828 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 1,828 / 0 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 12, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Borrowed from German Wilhelm. Doublet of William.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 16 | 5,664 |
| 2012 | 24 | 4,241 |
| 2013 | 19 | 4,968 |
| 2014 | 38 | 3,035 |
| 2015 | 21 | 4,701 |
| 2016 | 24 | 4,318 |
| 2017 | 24 | 4,323 |
| 2018 | 29 | 3,788 |
| 2019 | 12 | 7,146 |
| 2020 | 26 | 4,013 |
| 2021 | 25 | 4,234 |
| 2022 | 33 | 3,530 |
| 2023 | 18 | 5,456 |
| 2024 | 25 | 4,316 |
| 2025 | 26 | 4,133 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 3 | 3,651 |
| 2008 | 3 | 4,432 |
| 2012 | 3 | 4,805 |
| 2015 | 3 | 4,747 |

## People named Wilhelm

- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German mathematician and philosopher (1646–1716)
- Wilhelm II, as King of Prussia last German Emperor from 1888 to 1918 (1859–1941)
- Wilhelm I, 19th-century German Emperor and King of Prussia (1797–1888)
- Wilhelm Ostwald, Baltic German chemist (1853–1932)
- Wilhelm Keitel, German field marshal (1882–1946)
- Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian-American chess player (1836–1900)
- Wilhelm Reich, Austrian-American psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, sex educator and sociologist (1897–1957)
- Wilhelm Grimm, German author, philologist, collector of fairy tales and legends (1786–1859)
- Wilhelm Pieck, German communist politician, president of GDR (1876-1960)
- Wilhelm Frick, German Nazi Party politician (1877–1946)
- Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral, head of military intelligence service (1887–1945)
- Wilhelm Dilthey, German historian, psychologist, sociologist, student of hermeneutics, and philosopher (183

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.