Wenzel
Wenzel was last recorded in 2022, when 5 babies were given it; 147 Americans have been recorded with it between 1882 and 2022 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Wenzel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Wenzel mean?
Wiktionary, German section
Wenzel is “a male given name”
From a diminutive of the name appearing in English as Wenceslaus, from Old Czech Venceslav, from Proto-Slavic *Vęťeslavъ. Doublet of Fatzke.
/ˈvɛnt͡sl̩/
Meaning: Wiktionary, German section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Wenzel?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #14,212, in 2022; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
13 babies in 1921, the peak
Wenzel peaked in 1921, when 13 boys were given it, #2,498 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5 | #14,212 | 2.9 |
| 1952 | 7 | #3,362 | 3.6 |
| 1943 | 5 | #4,022 | 3.5 |
| 1941 | 6 | #3,495 | 4.9 |
| 1937 | 5 | #3,998 | 4.7 |
| 1934 | 9 | #2,739 | 8.7 |
| 1932 | 5 | #4,262 | 4.8 |
| 1930 | 5 | #4,526 | 4.6 |
| 1929 | 6 | #3,945 | 5.6 |
| 1928 | 12 | #2,521 | 10.8 |
Every recorded year (21)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1926 | 6 | #4,173 | 5.4 |
| 1925 | 9 | #3,145 | 8.1 |
| 1924 | 5 | #4,939 | 4.4 |
| 1923 | 5 | #4,870 | 4.6 |
| 1921 | 13 | #2,498 | 11.8 |
| 1919 | 6 | #4,148 | 6.1 |
| 1918 | 12 | #2,535 | 11.8 |
| 1917 | 6 | #3,962 | 6.5 |
| 1916 | 7 | #3,498 | 7.9 |
| 1915 | 7 | #3,381 | 8.2 |
| 1882 | 6 | #938 | 52.8 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Wenzel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Wenzel has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 21 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Wenzel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Wenzel, and how old are they?
An estimated 16 Americans named Wenzel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026, too few to state an age range. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 147 people named Wenzel (14 women and girls, 133 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 20 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7.3 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
More about Wenzel and names like it
- The most given names of the 1920sWenzel peaked in 1921.
- German namesWiktionary’s origin for Wenzel: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1921The year the most babies were named Wenzel.
- Names starting with WMost given first.