Wolfgang
Wolfgang was given to 115 boys in 2025, #1,519 among boys’ names; 3,220 Americans have been recorded with it since 1929 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,080 Americans named Wolfgang and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 13 years old and half are between 6 and 27.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Wolfgang by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Wolfgang mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Wolfgang is “a male given name from German.” Its etymology gives the senses “wolf” (wolf) and “path, course” (gang).
Borrowed from German Wolfgang (reinforced by Medieval Latin Wolfgangus), from Middle High German Wolfgang, from Old High German Wolfgang, from wolf (“wolf”) + gang (“path, course”).
/ˈwʊlf.ɡæŋ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Wolfgang?
#1,519 among boys’ names, 2025
Wolfgang fell from #1,480 in 2015 to #1,519 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 59.0 to 67.3 per million.
148 babies in 2021, the peak
Wolfgang peaked in 2021, when 148 boys were given it, #1,288 among boys’ names. The 115 births of 2025 are 78% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 115 | #1,519 | 67.3 |
| 2024 | 115 | #1,539 | 66.7 |
| 2023 | 145 | #1,322 | 84.8 |
| 2022 | 131 | #1,413 | 75.0 |
| 2021 | 148 | #1,288 | 84.6 |
| 2020 | 132 | #1,352 | 76.5 |
| 2019 | 146 | #1,282 | 81.4 |
| 2018 | 126 | #1,400 | 69.4 |
| 2017 | 117 | #1,458 | 63.2 |
| 2016 | 119 | #1,455 | 62.7 |
Every recorded year (79)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 113 | #1,480 | 59.0 |
| 2014 | 93 | #1,669 | 48.4 |
| 2013 | 68 | #2,018 | 35.9 |
| 2012 | 67 | #2,064 | 35.3 |
| 2011 | 84 | #1,753 | 44.2 |
| 2010 | 69 | #2,008 | 36.0 |
| 2009 | 64 | #2,141 | 32.3 |
| 2008 | 50 | #2,539 | 24.5 |
| 2007 | 38 | #3,085 | 18.3 |
| 2006 | 48 | #2,540 | 23.4 |
| 2005 | 52 | #2,291 | 26.0 |
| 2004 | 50 | #2,308 | 25.2 |
| 2003 | 49 | #2,232 | 24.8 |
| 2002 | 50 | #2,148 | 25.8 |
| 2001 | 56 | #1,952 | 28.8 |
| 2000 | 51 | #2,008 | 26.0 |
| 1999 | 58 | #1,758 | 30.2 |
| 1998 | 62 | #1,676 | 32.4 |
| 1997 | 53 | #1,810 | 28.1 |
| 1996 | 48 | #1,902 | 25.3 |
| 1995 | 59 | #1,582 | 31.0 |
| 1994 | 66 | #1,465 | 34.2 |
| 1993 | 30 | #2,499 | 15.3 |
| 1992 | 49 | #1,744 | 24.5 |
| 1991 | 27 | #2,598 | 13.4 |
| 1990 | 16 | #3,767 | 7.8 |
| 1989 | 16 | #3,607 | 8.0 |
| 1988 | 18 | #3,070 | 9.4 |
| 1987 | 15 | #3,330 | 8.0 |
| 1986 | 10 | #4,443 | 5.4 |
| 1985 | 11 | #4,037 | 6.0 |
| 1984 | 7 | #5,536 | 3.9 |
| 1983 | 6 | #6,210 | 3.3 |
| 1982 | 9 | #4,576 | 5.0 |
| 1980 | 6 | #6,223 | 3.4 |
| 1979 | 7 | #5,343 | 4.1 |
| 1978 | 8 | #4,543 | 4.9 |
| 1977 | 7 | #5,111 | 4.3 |
| 1976 | 8 | #4,405 | 5.1 |
| 1975 | 13 | #3,070 | 8.3 |
| 1974 | 8 | #4,179 | 5.1 |
| 1973 | 11 | #3,216 | 7.1 |
| 1972 | 7 | #4,427 | 4.3 |
| 1971 | 9 | #3,652 | 5.1 |
| 1970 | 26 | #1,741 | 14.0 |
| 1969 | 13 | #2,546 | 7.3 |
| 1968 | 15 | #2,196 | 8.6 |
| 1967 | 9 | #2,980 | 5.2 |
| 1966 | 13 | #2,321 | 7.3 |
| 1965 | 11 | #2,614 | 5.9 |
| 1964 | 11 | #2,660 | 5.5 |
| 1963 | 6 | #4,039 | 3.0 |
| 1962 | 12 | #2,499 | 5.8 |
| 1961 | 14 | #2,318 | 6.6 |
| 1960 | 16 | #2,116 | 7.5 |
| 1959 | 16 | #2,109 | 7.5 |
| 1958 | 13 | #2,366 | 6.1 |
| 1957 | 13 | #2,372 | 6.0 |
| 1956 | 11 | #2,623 | 5.2 |
| 1955 | 10 | #2,759 | 4.9 |
| 1954 | 14 | #2,204 | 6.9 |
| 1953 | 13 | #2,285 | 6.6 |
| 1952 | 6 | #3,721 | 3.1 |
| 1950 | 6 | #3,671 | 3.4 |
| 1949 | 5 | #4,198 | 2.8 |
| 1935 | 6 | #3,632 | 5.8 |
| 1932 | 7 | #3,356 | 6.7 |
| 1930 | 6 | #3,995 | 5.5 |
| 1929 | 8 | #3,244 | 7.4 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Wolfgang a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Wolfgang has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 79 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Wolfgang: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Wolfgang, and how old are they?
3,080 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 3,220 Americans ever recorded as Wolfgang. The median Wolfgang alive today is 13 years old; half are between 6 and 27.
The 2020 Census counted 4,732 people named Wolfgang (14 women and girls, 4,718 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,368 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.0 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 | 2 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 117 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 150 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 371 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 886 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,560 |
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 Wolfgang born?
The states with the most babies named Wolfgang are California, Texas and New York, with 70% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 18 | #1,147 | 1.2× |
| Texas | 14 | #1,408 | 0.5× |
| New York | 7 | #1,564 | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 6 | #1,273 | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 6 | #1,258 | 0.2× |
| New Jersey | 5 | #1,174 | 0.1× |
Where Wolfgang is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Wolfgang is most over-represented in California: since 1929 it was given 1.2 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 Wolfgang 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 Wolfgang
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 Wolfgang and names like it
- Compare Wolfgang and LipaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sWolfgang peaked in 2021.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Wolfgang since 1910.
- German namesWiktionary’s origin for Wolfgang: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2021The year the most babies were named Wolfgang.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Wolfgang alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with WMost given first.