Wilber
Willpower radiant warrior, valiant bright ruler.
Name Census estimates that about 2,690 living Americans carry the first name Wilber. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wilber today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wilber births was 1919 (162 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wilber. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Wilber with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.7K
~ 1 in 127,418 Americans
Peak year
1919
162 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,299
Tracked since 1880
Census
Wilber in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,358 people with the first name Wilber, which placed it at #3,742 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
#3,742
National first-name rank
People counted
5.4K
5,358 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
76.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wilber
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wilber is Hispanic at 76.4%. The next largest groups are White (15.2%) and Black (6.4%). 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 Wilber 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 Wilber at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino76.4% · 4,094
- White15.2% · 816
- Black or African American6.4% · 342
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 53
- Two or more races0.7% · 37
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 16
Gender
Gender distribution for Wilber
Out of the 6,875 babies given the name Wilber since 1880, 99.8% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Wilber as a male name
- Ranked #4,299 in 2024
- 25 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1919 (162 births)
Wilber as a female name
- Ranked #6,043 in 1949
- 5 female births in 1949
- Peak: 1929 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wilber appears almost entirely male. Of the 5,360 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Wilber: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wilber from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,437 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
Wilber 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 Wilber during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wilbers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. California, Texas, South Carolina recorded the most babies named Wilber, while Colorado, New Jersey, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 99 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wilber
The name Wilber is an English name derived from the Germanic elements "wil" meaning "will" or "desire" and "berht" meaning "bright" or "famous." It is believed to have originated in the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century, when many names were formed by combining various Germanic root words.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wilber can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners and tenants in England compiled in 1086 under the orders of William the Conqueror. The name appeared as "Wilbertus" or "Wilbertus Clericus," indicating that it was likely used by members of the clergy at that time.
In the 13th century, a man named Wilber de Lisle was listed as a landholder in the county of Oxfordshire, England. This record provides evidence of the name's continued use during the medieval period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Wilber. One of the most famous was Wilber Wright (1867-1912), the pioneering American aviator who, along with his brother Orville, achieved the first successful powered flight in 1903.
Another prominent figure was Wilber Wilcox (1888-1964), an American engineer and businessman who played a significant role in the development of the oil refining industry in the early 20th century.
In the realm of literature, Wilber Daniel Steele (1869-1938) was an American short story writer and novelist best known for his works set in the American West.
Wilber Marion Brucker (1894-1968) was the 20th United States Secretary of the Army, serving under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1955 to 1961.
Wilber Atkinson (1919-1997) was an American professional basketball player who spent most of his career with the Philadelphia Warriors in the 1940s and 1950s.
While the name Wilber has seen varying levels of popularity over the centuries, it remains a part of the English naming tradition, carrying with it a rich linguistic history and associations with notable individuals from various fields.
People
Wilber + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wilber 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
Wilber: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wilber?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,690 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wilber 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 127,418 US residents.
Is Wilber a common name?
We classify Wilber as "Rare". It ranks above 94.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,875 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wilber most popular?
The single biggest year for Wilber was 1919, when 162 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wilber is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wilber in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,358 people with the name Wilber, or 1.77 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,742 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 Wilber 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 Wilber?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wilber appears almost entirely male. Of the 5,360 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Wilber?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wilber is Hispanic at 76.4%. The next largest groups are White (15.2%) and Black (6.4%). 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 Wilber most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Wilber in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.4% (4,094 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 Wilber in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wilber a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Wilber 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 Wilber still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wilber 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 Wilber 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 called Wilber?
You can see how many people have the name Wilber on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.