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Wilhelm

#4,132 in 2025Boys' name

Will + helmet, through *Wiljahelmaz

Wilhelm has been given to 1,828 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #4,132 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2014, with 38 recorded.

Babies named Wilhelm, 2025

1 in 128,000

Wilhelm over time, 1880–2025

Boys
01020304018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Wilhelm: meaning, origin, and history

Will + helmet, through *Wiljahelmaz

German and Old High German

What Wilhelm means

Wilhelm belongs to the name family reached through Wilhelm → Wilhelm → *Wiljahelmaz. Its meaning is “will + helmet”.

Origin, language, and formation

Wilhelm is used in English, Afrikaans, German, Polish and Swedish. Its origins include German and Old High German.

Wilhelm comes through German Wilhelm.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include William, Wilhelm and *Wiljahelmaz.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Afrikaans, Wilhelm is pronounced /vəlˈɦɛləm/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,828 boys were recorded with the name Wilhelm between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 38 in 2014; its best national rank was #832 in 1885.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #4,010 in 2020 to #4,132 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #4,699 in 2015 to #4,132 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Wilhelm?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 128,000
26 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 65,700
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#4,132
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
88,382 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Wilhelm sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 88,382 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Wilhelm. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Wilhelms were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Wilhelm was born before 1972 — so the typical Wilhelm is around 53 today.

Median birth year
1972
About 53 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
12.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
31.6%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,243
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 12.7% of all recorded uses (233).

Is Wilhelm rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+181
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−122
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+567
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.24×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
68.4%
Peak was 2014 (38)
Years since peak
11
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
34.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#832
1885

Spellings of Wilhelm

Wilhelm is not the most common spelling — Willem is, with 60.8% against Wilhelm's 39.2%.

  • Willem60.8%2,840
  • Wilhelm39.2%1,828

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Wilhelm is used

Across 1910–2025, Wilhelm was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 841,400 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Iowa1 in —
  3. 3Minnesota1 in —
  4. 4New York1 in —
  5. 5Pennsylvania1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Wilhelm has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Wilhelm around the world

Where Wilhelm ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2004–2015
    #4,747
    in 2015
  • France
    1901–2024
    #5,132
    in 2024
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #119
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1992–2024
    #2,855
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1948–2011
    #784
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Wilhelm by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#4,132
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 122
Best rank ever
#832
1885
Peak year
2014
38 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,828
Count in 2025
26

Names similar to Wilhelm

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

WillianWiliamWillemWillaimWillamWilfridWillsonWilfordWilburtWilmarWilliamsWilberWillowWilderWillyWiltonWilbernWilfredoWilkesWilliardWilferdWillliamWilfredWilborn

Sibling names for Wilhelm

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Wilhelm

Top names of 2014, Wilhelm's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 1885Boys' names starting with WAfrikaans Boy NamesAfrikaans NamesGerman Boy NamesWilliam Variations & Nicknames