Wilburt
Wilburt is an English name of unknown meaning, potentially from the Germanic roots 'wil' (will) and 'berht' (bright).
Name Census estimates that about 381 living Americans carry the first name Wilburt. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wilburt today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wilburt births was 1920 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wilburt. 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 Wilburt is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Wilburts were born before 1965.
People living today
381
~ 1 in 899,618 Americans
Peak year
1920
39 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
1987 SSA rank
#8,111
Tracked since 1903
Census
Wilburt in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 391 people with the first name Wilburt, which placed it at #24,576 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
#24,576
National first-name rank
People counted
391
391 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
56.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wilburt
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wilburt is Black at 56.0%. The next largest groups are White (27.9%) and Hispanic (8.7%). 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 Wilburt 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 Wilburt at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American56.0% · 219
- White27.9% · 109
- Hispanic or Latino8.7% · 34
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 9
- Two or more races1.3% · 5
Popularity
Wilburt: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wilburt from the 1900s through to the 1980s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 263 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
Wilburt 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 Wilburt during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wilburts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. North Carolina, Illinois, Georgia recorded the most babies named Wilburt, while Mississippi, Michigan, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wilburt
The name Wilburt is of Germanic origin, derived from the Old German words "wil" meaning "desire" or "will," and "berht" meaning "bright" or "shining." The name can be traced back to the 8th century and was widely used among Germanic tribes, particularly in the regions that now make up parts of Germany and the Netherlands.
In the Middle Ages, the name Wilburt gained popularity across Western Europe, with variations such as Wilbert, Wilbrecht, and Wilbrand emerging in different regions. It was commonly associated with individuals of noble or aristocratic backgrounds, suggesting a sense of strength and determination.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wilburt can be found in the Annals of Fulda, a medieval chronicle written by monks in the Carolingian era. The annals mention a nobleman named Wilburt who served as a count in the court of Charlemagne in the late 8th century.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Wilburt. In the 11th century, Wilburt de Normandie was a Norman knight who accompanied William the Conqueror during the Norman conquest of England in 1066. He later became a prominent landowner in the county of Lincolnshire.
Another prominent Wilburt was Wilburt von Leiningen, a German nobleman and military leader who lived in the 13th century. He fought in the Seventh Crusade and was renowned for his bravery and leadership on the battlefield.
In the 15th century, Wilburt Tyndale was an English scholar and translator who played a pivotal role in the Protestant Reformation. He was the first to translate the Bible into English from the original Greek and Hebrew texts, laying the foundation for the King James Version of the Bible.
Wilburt Shakespeare, a distant relative of the famous playwright William Shakespeare, was a notable English poet and dramatist in the 16th century. Although his works are not as well-known as those of his illustrious kinsman, he contributed to the flourishing literary scene of the Elizabethan era.
The name Wilburt has endured through the centuries, carrying with it a sense of strength, determination, and nobility. While its popularity has waxed and waned over time, the name remains a testament to its rich historical roots and the remarkable individuals who have borne it throughout the ages.
People
Wilburt + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wilburt 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
Wilburt: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wilburt?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 381 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wilburt 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 899,618 US residents.
Is Wilburt a common name?
We classify Wilburt as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,108 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wilburt most popular?
The single biggest year for Wilburt was 1920, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wilburt is about 71 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wilburt in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 391 people with the name Wilburt, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,576 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 Wilburt 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 Wilburt?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wilburt appears almost entirely male. Of the 387 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Wilburt?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wilburt is Black at 56.0%. The next largest groups are White (27.9%) and Hispanic (8.7%). 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 Wilburt most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Wilburt in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.0% (219 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 Wilburt in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wilburt a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wilburt 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 Wilburt still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wilburt 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 Wilburt 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 common is the name Wilburt?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Wilburt on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.