Wilbur

About Wilbur

Wilbur is an English surname name meaning “wild boar.” Its two-syllable pronunciation, WIL-ber, is familiar from two very different settings: Wilbur Wright’s place in aviation history and the pig at the center of E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. The animal meaning makes that literary association particularly memorable.

A surname with an animal origin

Wilbur developed from an English surname that came from the Middle English nickname Wildbor, “wild boar.” The shorter modern spelling keeps the beginning and ending of that older form.

Wilbur Wright received the name in honor of Methodist minister Wilbur Fisk. That connection shows the first name already moving between people before the Wright brothers’ achievement made it internationally recognizable.

Will could be an informal shortening, although the full Wilbur is already only two syllables. Its final bur sound distinguishes it from William and other names beginning with Wil, which do not share this surname’s animal origin.

Wilbur Wright

Wilbur and his younger brother Orville worked together on the experiments that produced their successful powered airplane. On December 17, 1903, they made four flights at the site now commemorated by Wright Brothers National Memorial in North Carolina.

Orville piloted the first flight, with Wilbur running alongside at takeoff. The brothers alternated, and Wilbur made the fourth and longest flight of the day, covering 852 feet in 59 seconds.

The achievement depended on their shared work rather than on one brother alone. That partnership remains central to Wilbur’s historical association: his first name is familiar as one half of the Wright brothers, even though Orville took the first turn in the air.

Wilbur in Charlotte’s Web

E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, published in 1952, gives the name a very different kind of story. Wilbur is a small pig whose life is saved by a girl named Fern when he is born the runt of his litter.

Later, in Zuckerman’s barn, his friendship with the spider Charlotte becomes the heart of the novel. Her web provides an extraordinary way to express her care for him, joining an ordinary farm setting with the book’s imaginative world.

The novel is a Newbery Honor book. Its themes of friendship, protection, loss, and the passing of time have made Wilbur a recognizable literary animal, alongside the name’s literal connection with a wild boar.

American popularity

Wilbur’s best American rank was 91st for boys in 1913. Its highest annual count followed in 1918, when 1,800 boys received it.

Use declined over the twentieth century. There were 488 boys named Wilbur in 1950, 95 in 1980, and thirty in 2000. In 2025, the count was 27, ranking 4,039th. Its historical and literary familiarity is now much greater than its frequency among American newborns.

How popular is Wilbur?

In 2025, Wilbur ranked #4,039 among boys in the United States, with 27 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1880; its largest annual count was 1,800 in 1918. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.