Wess
A variant of the English names Wesley or Wesson of Old English origin meaning "from the western meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 370 living Americans carry the first name Wess. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wess today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wess births was 1965 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wess. 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.
People living today
370
~ 1 in 926,363 Americans
Peak year
1965
16 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,909
Tracked since 1883
Census
Wess in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 462 people with the first name Wess, which placed it at #21,817 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
#21,817
National first-name rank
People counted
462
462 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wess
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wess is White at 79.4%. The next largest groups are Black (9.7%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Wess 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 Wess at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.4% · 367
- Black or African American9.7% · 45
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 20
- Two or more races4.3% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 3
Popularity
Wess: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wess from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 107 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Wess remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wess 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 Wess during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wess' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Wess
The name Wess has its origins in the Germanic languages, specifically in Old High German and Old English. It is derived from the Old High German word "wessi," which means "bright" or "shining." The name likely emerged during the early medieval period, around the 6th to 8th centuries AD, in the regions that are now parts of Germany and England.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wess is in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record of the Anglo-Saxon people in Britain. The chronicle mentions a person named "Wessing," who lived in the 7th century AD and was a nobleman in the Kingdom of Mercia.
In the 9th century, a Frankish monk named Wesso gained recognition for his scholarly works and contributions to the preservation of ancient texts. He lived in the Benedictine abbey of Reichenau, located in present-day Germany.
During the High Middle Ages, a figure named Wess von Rheinau, who lived from 1020 to 1090, was a prominent architect and master builder. He is credited with designing several notable churches and abbeys in the Rhineland region of Germany.
In the 14th century, a German knight named Wess von Ehrenfels fought alongside the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV during the Hundred Years' War. He was renowned for his bravery and military prowess.
In the 16th century, a Dutch Renaissance humanist and scholar named Wess Gansfort (1487-1542) gained recognition for his contributions to the fields of theology and philosophy. He was a prominent figure during the early stages of the Protestant Reformation.
While the name Wess has its roots in the Germanic languages, it has been used across various cultures and regions over the centuries, although its popularity has varied. The name carries a sense of brightness, radiance, and historical significance, reflecting its ancient origins and the notable individuals who have borne this name throughout history.
People
Wess + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wess 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
Wess: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wess?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 370 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wess 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 926,363 US residents.
Is Wess a common name?
We classify Wess as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 505 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wess most popular?
The single biggest year for Wess was 1965, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wess is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wess in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 462 people with the name Wess, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,817 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 Wess 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 Wess?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wess appears almost entirely male. Of the 461 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Wess?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wess is White at 79.4%. The next largest groups are Black (9.7%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Wess most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Wess in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.4% (367 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 Wess in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wess a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wess 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 Wess still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wess 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 Wess 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 people are named Wess?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.