Wolf
Wolf was given to 83 boys in 2025, #1,902 among boys’ names; 1,658 Americans have been recorded with it since 1912 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,600 Americans named Wolf and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 10 years old and half are between 5 and 20.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Wolf by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Wolf mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Wolf is “a male given name.” Its etymology gives the sense “wolf” (element).
From Middle English and German short forms of given names containing the Germanic element “wolf”.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Wolf?
#1,902 among boys’ names, 2025
Wolf rose from #2,231 in 2015 to #1,902 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 31.8 to 48.6 per million.
107 babies in 2021, the peak
Wolf peaked in 2021, when 107 boys were given it, #1,605 among boys’ names. The 83 births of 2025 are 78% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 83 | #1,902 | 48.6 |
| 2024 | 90 | #1,819 | 52.2 |
| 2023 | 91 | #1,785 | 53.2 |
| 2022 | 100 | #1,703 | 57.3 |
| 2021 | 107 | #1,605 | 61.2 |
| 2020 | 82 | #1,829 | 47.5 |
| 2019 | 87 | #1,788 | 48.5 |
| 2018 | 83 | #1,835 | 45.7 |
| 2017 | 75 | #1,933 | 40.5 |
| 2016 | 67 | #2,109 | 35.3 |
Every recorded year (63)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 61 | #2,231 | 31.8 |
| 2014 | 50 | #2,512 | 26.0 |
| 2013 | 53 | #2,398 | 28.0 |
| 2012 | 24 | #4,239 | 12.7 |
| 2011 | 26 | #3,981 | 13.7 |
| 2010 | 29 | #3,705 | 15.1 |
| 2009 | 28 | #3,823 | 14.1 |
| 2008 | 25 | #4,134 | 12.3 |
| 2007 | 23 | #4,364 | 11.1 |
| 2006 | 27 | #3,776 | 13.1 |
| 2005 | 15 | #5,559 | 7.5 |
| 2004 | 14 | #5,794 | 7.1 |
| 2003 | 21 | #4,102 | 10.6 |
| 2002 | 14 | #5,379 | 7.2 |
| 2001 | 19 | #4,293 | 9.8 |
| 2000 | 18 | #4,374 | 9.2 |
| 1999 | 12 | #5,638 | 6.2 |
| 1998 | 25 | #3,183 | 13.1 |
| 1997 | 15 | #4,441 | 8.0 |
| 1996 | 13 | #4,861 | 6.9 |
| 1995 | 15 | #4,263 | 7.9 |
| 1994 | 14 | #4,522 | 7.2 |
| 1993 | 6 | #8,666 | 3.1 |
| 1992 | 6 | #8,397 | 3.0 |
| 1991 | 12 | #4,748 | 5.9 |
| 1990 | 9 | #5,797 | 4.4 |
| 1989 | 7 | #6,907 | 3.5 |
| 1988 | 8 | #5,728 | 4.2 |
| 1987 | 11 | #4,225 | 5.9 |
| 1986 | 9 | #4,836 | 4.9 |
| 1984 | 5 | #7,317 | 2.8 |
| 1982 | 8 | #4,987 | 4.4 |
| 1978 | 10 | #3,845 | 6.1 |
| 1977 | 10 | #3,832 | 6.1 |
| 1976 | 8 | #4,404 | 5.1 |
| 1975 | 8 | #4,300 | 5.1 |
| 1974 | 6 | #5,210 | 3.8 |
| 1973 | 6 | #5,086 | 3.8 |
| 1971 | 7 | #4,365 | 4.0 |
| 1970 | 9 | #3,512 | 4.8 |
| 1968 | 5 | #4,737 | 2.9 |
| 1966 | 6 | #3,937 | 3.4 |
| 1963 | 6 | #4,038 | 3.0 |
| 1962 | 5 | #4,621 | 2.4 |
| 1961 | 5 | #4,650 | 2.4 |
| 1960 | 15 | #2,206 | 7.0 |
| 1959 | 14 | #2,293 | 6.6 |
| 1958 | 19 | #1,894 | 9.0 |
| 1957 | 7 | #3,547 | 3.2 |
| 1956 | 8 | #3,210 | 3.8 |
| 1953 | 7 | #3,418 | 3.5 |
| 1950 | 5 | #4,182 | 2.8 |
| 1912 | 5 | #2,899 | 11.6 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Wolf a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Wolf has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 63 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Wolf: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Wolf, and how old are they?
1,600 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 1,658 Americans ever recorded as Wolf. The median Wolf alive today is 10 years old; half are between 5 and 20.
The 2020 Census counted 1,548 people named Wolf (48 women and girls, 1,500 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,085 born in the U.S. The Census count is 43% above 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 65 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 67 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 117 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 330 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,020 |
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).
Where are babies named Wolf born?
The states with the most babies named Wolf are California, New York and Florida, with 100% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 14 | #1,360 | 1.1× |
| New York | 13 | #989 | 4.3× |
| Florida | 7 | #1,610 | 0.5× |
Where Wolf is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Wolf is most over-represented in New York: since 1912 it was given 4.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Wolf with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Wolf
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 Wolf and names like it
- Compare Wolf and SulaimanBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sWolf peaked in 2021.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Wolf since 1910.
- The top names of 2021The year the most babies were named Wolf.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Wolf alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with WMost given first.