Wolfgang
A German masculine name meaning "traveling wolf".
Name Census estimates that about 2,995 living Americans carry the first name Wolfgang. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wolfgang today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wolfgang births was 2021 (148 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wolfgang. 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 Wolfgang with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.0K
~ 1 in 114,442 Americans
Peak year
2021
148 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,534
Tracked since 1929
Census
Wolfgang in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,740 people with the first name Wolfgang, which placed it at #4,083 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
#4,083
National first-name rank
People counted
4.7K
4,740 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wolfgang
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wolfgang is White at 84.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.5%) and Two or More Races (4.7%). 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 Wolfgang 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 Wolfgang at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.4% · 4,001
- Hispanic or Latino8.5% · 401
- Two or more races4.7% · 224
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 54
- Black or African American0.8% · 39
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 21
Popularity
Wolfgang: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wolfgang from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,002 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Wolfgang remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wolfgang 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 Wolfgang during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wolfgangs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Wolfgang, while Connecticut, Tennessee, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 54 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wolfgang
The name Wolfgang originates from the Germanic languages, specifically Old High German. It is a compound name, formed by combining the elements "wolf" (meaning wolf) and "gang" (meaning path or journey). The name can be interpreted as "traveling wolf" or "wolf path."
In ancient Germanic cultures, wolves were revered for their strength, cunning, and hunting skills. The wolf symbolized qualities such as loyalty, perseverance, and protection. Naming a child Wolfgang was seen as bestowing these desirable traits upon them.
The earliest recorded use of the name Wolfgang dates back to the 8th century AD. One of the first notable individuals with this name was Wolfgang of Regensburg, a 10th-century German bishop and saint. Born around 934 AD, he was renowned for his missionary work in modern-day Austria and Hungary.
Another prominent figure named Wolfgang was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the renowned 18th-century Austrian composer. Born in 1756, Mozart is widely considered one of the greatest composers of all time, renowned for his operas, concertos, and symphonies.
In the realm of literature, Wolfgang von Goethe, born in 1749, was a German writer, poet, and statesman. He is best known for his seminal work "Faust," a tragic play that explores themes of human existence and the pursuit of knowledge.
Moving into the 20th century, Wolfgang Pauli, born in 1900, was an influential Austrian physicist and Nobel laureate. He made significant contributions to quantum mechanics and is renowned for the Pauli exclusion principle, which explains the behavior of fermions.
Lastly, Wolfgang Puck, born in 1949, is an Austrian-American celebrity chef and restaurateur. He is credited with popularizing California-style cuisine and has built a successful culinary empire, including his flagship restaurant Spago in Los Angeles.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Wolfgang throughout history, each leaving their mark in fields ranging from religion and music to literature, science, and culinary arts.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Wolfgang
People
Wolfgang + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wolfgang 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
Wolfgang: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wolfgang?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,995 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wolfgang 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 114,442 US residents.
Is Wolfgang a common name?
We classify Wolfgang as "Rare". It ranks above 95.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,104 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wolfgang most popular?
The single biggest year for Wolfgang was 2021, when 148 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wolfgang is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wolfgang in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,740 people with the name Wolfgang, or 1.57 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,083 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 Wolfgang 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 Wolfgang?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wolfgang appears almost entirely male. Of the 4,732 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Wolfgang?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wolfgang is White at 84.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.5%) and Two or More Races (4.7%). 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 Wolfgang most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Wolfgang in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.4% (4,001 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 Wolfgang in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wolfgang a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wolfgang 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 Wolfgang still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wolfgang 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 Wolfgang 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 Wolfgang?
Find out how many Americans are named Wolfgang on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.