Wilhelm
Wilhelm was given to 26 boys in 2025, #4,132 among boys’ names; 1,828 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,180 Americans named Wilhelm and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (65% of everyone recorded); the median is 27 years old and half are between 12 and 54.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Wilhelm by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Wilhelm mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Wilhelm is “a male given name from German, equivalent to English William.”
Borrowed from German Wilhelm. Doublet of William.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Wilhelm?
#4,132 among boys’ names, 2025
Wilhelm rose from #4,699 in 2015 to #4,132 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 11.0 to 15.2 per million.
38 babies in 2014, the peak
Wilhelm peaked in 2014, when 38 boys were given it, #3,033 among boys’ names. The 26 births of 2025 are 68% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 26 | #4,132 | 15.2 |
| 2024 | 25 | #4,313 | 14.5 |
| 2023 | 18 | #5,451 | 10.5 |
| 2022 | 33 | #3,528 | 18.9 |
| 2021 | 25 | #4,230 | 14.3 |
| 2020 | 26 | #4,010 | 15.1 |
| 2019 | 12 | #7,141 | 6.7 |
| 2018 | 29 | #3,784 | 16.0 |
| 2017 | 24 | #4,319 | 13.0 |
| 2016 | 24 | #4,317 | 12.6 |
Every recorded year (132)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 21 | #4,699 | 11.0 |
| 2014 | 38 | #3,033 | 19.8 |
| 2013 | 19 | #4,965 | 10.0 |
| 2012 | 24 | #4,238 | 12.7 |
| 2011 | 16 | #5,659 | 8.4 |
| 2010 | 26 | #3,988 | 13.6 |
| 2009 | 20 | #4,910 | 10.1 |
| 2008 | 20 | #4,889 | 9.8 |
| 2007 | 22 | #4,481 | 10.6 |
| 2006 | 17 | #5,290 | 8.3 |
| 2005 | 24 | #3,934 | 12.0 |
| 2004 | 21 | #4,254 | 10.6 |
| 2003 | 25 | #3,617 | 12.7 |
| 2002 | 22 | #3,898 | 11.3 |
| 2001 | 21 | #3,961 | 10.8 |
| 2000 | 13 | #5,561 | 6.6 |
| 1999 | 18 | #4,153 | 9.4 |
| 1998 | 13 | #5,148 | 6.8 |
| 1997 | 12 | #5,270 | 6.4 |
| 1996 | 9 | #6,476 | 4.8 |
| 1995 | 10 | #5,905 | 5.3 |
| 1994 | 13 | #4,786 | 6.7 |
| 1993 | 11 | #5,339 | 5.6 |
| 1992 | 12 | #4,850 | 6.0 |
| 1991 | 14 | #4,213 | 6.9 |
| 1990 | 13 | #4,391 | 6.3 |
| 1989 | 9 | #5,586 | 4.5 |
| 1988 | 16 | #3,339 | 8.4 |
| 1987 | 15 | #3,329 | 8.0 |
| 1986 | 9 | #4,833 | 4.9 |
| 1985 | 15 | #3,211 | 8.1 |
| 1984 | 11 | #3,915 | 6.1 |
| 1983 | 7 | #5,462 | 3.9 |
| 1982 | 21 | #2,424 | 11.6 |
| 1981 | 9 | #4,488 | 5.0 |
| 1980 | 11 | #3,833 | 6.2 |
| 1979 | 5 | #7,046 | 2.9 |
| 1978 | 11 | #3,610 | 6.7 |
| 1977 | 11 | #3,596 | 6.7 |
| 1976 | 9 | #4,000 | 5.7 |
| 1975 | 10 | #3,654 | 6.4 |
| 1974 | 9 | #3,827 | 5.7 |
| 1973 | 15 | #2,602 | 9.6 |
| 1972 | 14 | #2,654 | 8.6 |
| 1971 | 14 | #2,680 | 7.9 |
| 1970 | 26 | #1,740 | 14.0 |
| 1969 | 16 | #2,214 | 8.9 |
| 1968 | 15 | #2,194 | 8.6 |
| 1967 | 16 | #2,027 | 9.2 |
| 1966 | 10 | #2,775 | 5.6 |
| 1965 | 16 | #2,080 | 8.6 |
| 1964 | 18 | #1,972 | 9.0 |
| 1963 | 25 | #1,625 | 12.3 |
| 1962 | 19 | #1,894 | 9.2 |
| 1961 | 13 | #2,405 | 6.1 |
| 1960 | 19 | #1,908 | 8.9 |
| 1959 | 12 | #2,525 | 5.6 |
| 1958 | 16 | #2,088 | 7.5 |
| 1957 | 12 | #2,489 | 5.6 |
| 1956 | 12 | #2,492 | 5.7 |
| 1955 | 12 | #2,429 | 5.8 |
| 1954 | 12 | #2,441 | 5.9 |
| 1953 | 6 | #3,785 | 3.0 |
| 1952 | 17 | #1,935 | 8.7 |
| 1951 | 5 | #4,240 | 2.7 |
| 1950 | 9 | #2,764 | 5.0 |
| 1949 | 7 | #3,291 | 3.9 |
| 1947 | 10 | #2,663 | 5.5 |
| 1945 | 7 | #2,988 | 5.2 |
| 1944 | 6 | #3,419 | 4.4 |
| 1943 | 9 | #2,728 | 6.3 |
| 1942 | 6 | #3,552 | 4.3 |
| 1941 | 7 | #3,125 | 5.7 |
| 1940 | 15 | #1,891 | 12.9 |
| 1939 | 10 | #2,445 | 9.0 |
| 1938 | 8 | #2,858 | 7.2 |
| 1937 | 7 | #3,167 | 6.6 |
| 1936 | 13 | #2,059 | 12.5 |
| 1935 | 8 | #2,940 | 7.7 |
| 1934 | 12 | #2,262 | 11.6 |
| 1933 | 10 | #2,537 | 10.1 |
| 1932 | 17 | #1,846 | 16.3 |
| 1931 | 10 | #2,646 | 9.6 |
| 1930 | 14 | #2,175 | 12.8 |
| 1929 | 15 | #2,093 | 13.9 |
| 1928 | 10 | #2,838 | 9.0 |
| 1927 | 13 | #2,402 | 11.5 |
| 1926 | 7 | #3,696 | 6.3 |
| 1925 | 13 | #2,428 | 11.6 |
| 1924 | 12 | #2,637 | 10.6 |
| 1923 | 12 | #2,609 | 10.9 |
| 1922 | 7 | #3,857 | 6.4 |
| 1921 | 17 | #2,055 | 15.4 |
| 1920 | 16 | #2,126 | 15.0 |
| 1919 | 15 | #2,147 | 15.3 |
| 1918 | 17 | #1,995 | 16.8 |
| 1917 | 26 | #1,394 | 28.1 |
| 1916 | 35 | #1,118 | 39.3 |
| 1915 | 21 | #1,550 | 24.7 |
| 1914 | 26 | #1,152 | 39.7 |
| 1913 | 18 | #1,249 | 35.1 |
| 1912 | 11 | #1,615 | 25.6 |
| 1911 | 6 | #1,734 | 26.6 |
| 1910 | 8 | #1,308 | 41.2 |
| 1909 | 7 | #1,271 | 42.7 |
| 1908 | 5 | #1,578 | 32.4 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,243 | 45.1 |
| 1904 | 6 | #1,198 | 46.8 |
| 1902 | 8 | #929 | 65.2 |
| 1900 | 5 | #1,501 | 33.2 |
| 1899 | 5 | #1,196 | 47.1 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,238 | 42.6 |
| 1894 | 6 | #1,068 | 51.8 |
| 1892 | 5 | #1,250 | 41.0 |
| 1890 | 5 | #1,157 | 45.0 |
| 1889 | 5 | #1,108 | 45.2 |
| 1887 | 5 | #1,064 | 49.3 |
| 1885 | 7 | #832 | 64.9 |
| 1884 | 6 | #969 | 52.4 |
| 1883 | 6 | #885 | 57.3 |
| 1882 | 6 | #939 | 52.8 |
| 1880 | 6 | #905 | 54.3 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Wilhelm a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Wilhelm has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 132 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Wilhelm: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Wilhelm, and how old are they?
1,180 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 65% of the 1,828 Americans ever recorded as Wilhelm. The median Wilhelm alive today is 27 years old; half are between 12 and 54.
The 2020 Census counted 1,811 people named Wilhelm (9 women and girls, 1,802 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,096 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.7 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.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 31 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 157 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 182 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 184 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 309 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 318 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 4,668 babies since 1880, Wilhelm is the second most given (39% of them). In 2025 it was given to 26 of their 77 babies (34%), again the second most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Wilhelm
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Wilhelm and names like it
- Compare Wilhelm and WillemBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sWilhelm peaked in 2014.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Wilhelm since 1910.
- German namesWiktionary’s origin for Wilhelm: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2014The year the most babies were named Wilhelm.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Wilhelm alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with WMost given first.