Wenzel
A masculine name of German origin meaning "loyal friend".
Name Census estimates that about 22 living Americans carry the first name Wenzel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wenzel today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wenzel births was 1921 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wenzel. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Wenzel is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Wenzels were born before 1970.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Wenzel. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
22
~ 1 in 15,579,743 Americans
Peak year
1921
13 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
2022 SSA rank
#14,208
Tracked since 1882
Census
Wenzel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 138 people with the first name Wenzel, which placed it at #47,373 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#47,373
National first-name rank
People counted
138
138 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wenzel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wenzel is White at 66.7%. The next largest groups are Black (12.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Wenzel described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Wenzel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.7% · 92
- Black or African American12.3% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.6% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 8
- Two or more races3.6% · 5
Popularity
Wenzel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wenzel from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 56 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wenzel by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Wenzel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wenzel
Wenzel is a masculine given name of Slavic origin that can be traced back to the Old Czech name "Václav". It is derived from the Slavic root words "velk" meaning "great" and "slav" meaning "glory" or "fame". The name was popular among the West Slavic peoples, particularly in what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The earliest known use of the name Václav can be found in the 10th century, referring to St. Wenceslaus (also known as Václav), the patron saint of Bohemia. St. Wenceslaus was the Duke of Bohemia from 921 until his assassination in 935. The name gained widespread popularity in Central Europe after his canonization in the 10th century.
In the Middle Ages, the name Václav was commonly rendered as Wenzel or Wenceslaus in German-speaking regions. One notable figure was Holy Roman Emperor Wenceslaus IV (1361-1419), who ruled the Holy Roman Empire from 1378 to 1400 and was known for his volatile temperament and struggle to maintain control over his territories.
The name also has a connection to the beloved Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas". The carol, written in the 19th century, refers to the legend of the benevolent King Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia (907-935), who was known for his generosity and caring for the poor.
Other notable individuals who bore the name Wenzel include the Czech composer and violinist Wenzel Müller (1767-1835), who was a prominent figure in the classical music scene of his time. Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg (1711-1794), was an Austrian diplomat and state chancellor who played a significant role in the Seven Years' War and the War of the Bavarian Succession.
The name Wenzel has also been used in various literary works, such as the novel "Wenzeslaus" by the Czech writer Josef Věromír Kamarýt (1797-1856), which explores the life of St. Wenceslaus and the early history of Bohemia.
People
Wenzel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wenzel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Wenzel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wenzel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 22 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wenzel going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 15,579,743 US residents.
Is Wenzel a common name?
We classify Wenzel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 41.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 147 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wenzel most popular?
The single biggest year for Wenzel was 1921, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wenzel is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wenzel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 138 people with the name Wenzel, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #47,373 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Wenzel in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Wenzel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wenzel leans strongly male. 133 people counted with this name were male (90.5%), compared with 14 female bearers (9.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Wenzel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wenzel is White at 66.7%. The next largest groups are Black (12.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Wenzel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Wenzel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.7% (92 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Wenzel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wenzel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wenzel in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Wenzel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wenzel in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Wenzel can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Wenzel?
See how many people have the name Wenzel on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.