Wilbern
Derived from an Old German name meaning "resolute bear".
Name Census estimates that about 109 living Americans carry the first name Wilbern. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wilbern today is around 82 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wilbern births was 1923 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wilbern. 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 Wilbern is about 82 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Wilberns were born before 1954.
People living today
109
~ 1 in 3,144,535 Americans
Peak year
1923
27 babies that year
Average age
82
years old
1967 SSA rank
#4,538
Tracked since 1912
Popularity
Wilbern: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wilbern from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 202 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
Wilbern 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 Wilbern during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wilberns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Arkansas, Texas, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Wilbern, while Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wilbern
The name Wilbern has its origins in the Germanic languages, specifically the Old English and Old Norse tongues spoken in various parts of Northern Europe during the medieval period. It is derived from the combination of two elements: "wil," meaning "will" or "desire," and "bern," which translates to "bear" or "warrior."
This name likely originated among the Anglo-Saxon tribes that populated what is now England during the 5th to 11th centuries. The earliest recorded instances of the name Wilbern can be found in various Anglo-Saxon chronicles and records from this era, though its usage was not particularly widespread.
One of the earliest known individuals to bear the name Wilbern was a minor nobleman who lived in the kingdom of Mercia during the 8th century. Few details about his life have survived, but he is mentioned briefly in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as having participated in a skirmish against the Vikings in the year 793.
Several centuries later, a Benedictine monk named Wilbern of Ely (c. 1090-1154) gained some renown for his scholarly writings on theology and philosophy. His treatise, "De Natura Rerum" (On the Nature of Things), was widely circulated among monastic communities in medieval England.
During the Renaissance period, a German humanist scholar named Wilbern Holtzmann (1459-1519) made significant contributions to the study of classical Greek and Roman literature. He is particularly known for his translations of various ancient texts into Latin.
In the 17th century, a Dutch explorer named Wilbern van der Meer (1618-1678) gained fame for his expeditions to the East Indies and his detailed accounts of the peoples and cultures encountered there. His travelogues were widely read in Europe at the time and helped to expand knowledge of the wider world.
Another notable figure was Wilbern Strickland (1788-1854), an English naturalist and geologist who made important contributions to the study of fossil remains and the classification of various plant and animal species. He was a pioneering figure in the early development of paleontology.
People
Wilbern + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wilbern 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
Wilbern: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wilbern?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 109 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wilbern 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 3,144,535 US residents.
Is Wilbern a common name?
We classify Wilbern as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 578 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wilbern most popular?
The single biggest year for Wilbern was 1923, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wilbern is about 82 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Wilbern a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wilbern 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.
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.