Boy · Old High German
Wilhelm
Say it: VIL-helm
Meaning
From Germanic wil 'will, desire' and helm 'helmet, protection'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Common in German lands for centuries and especially popular under the German emperors.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1880s
In the United States
- 1,699 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1880, about 1 in 18,400 boys
- 26 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Willi, Willy
| English | William |
|---|---|
| French | Guillaume |
| Italian | Guglielmo |
| Dutch | Willem |
| Swedish | Vilhelm |
| Polish | Wilhelm |
Famous bearers
- Wilhelm I, German emperor
- Wilhelm Röntgen, physicist
- Wilhelm Grimm, folklorist
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Royal and noble genealogies
- Parish baptism registers
- National birth statistics of European countries source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.