Find out how popular the last name Wilhelm is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Wilhelm.

Wilhelm, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Wilhelm surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Wilhelm in America

Wilhelm is the 1802nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Wilhelm surname appeared 19,913 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 7 people would have the surname Wilhelm.

We can also compare 2010 data for Wilhelm to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Wilhelm

The surname WILHELM originated in Germany and can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Germanic words "wil" meaning "will" or "desire" and "helm" meaning "helmet" or "protection." Together, the name WILHELM means "resolute protector" or "strong-willed guardian."

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname WILHELM can be found in the Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram, a medieval manuscript dating back to around 1030 AD. This document mentions a nobleman named Adalbertus Wilhelm.

During the 12th century, the name WILHELM was also documented in the Annales Rodenses, a chronicle written by the monks of the Abbey of Rode in present-day Belgium. Here, a reference is made to a knight named Willehelmus de Avennis.

In England, the surname WILHELM is believed to have originated from the Norman conquest in 1066. The Domesday Book, a great survey of landholdings and properties in England compiled in 1086, lists several individuals with the name Wilhelm or its variants, such as Willelmus and Guillelmus.

Notable individuals throughout history who bore the surname WILHELM include:

1. Philipp Wilhelm von Pfalz-Neuburg (1615-1690), a German prince and Elector of the Palatinate.
2. Johann Wilhelm von Jungius (1587-1657), a German mathematician, philosopher, and scientist.
3. Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835), a Prussian philosopher, linguist, and statesman, who was a pioneer in the field of comparative linguistics.
4. Wilhelm Leibl (1844-1900), a German painter and one of the leading figures of the Realistic style.
5. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923), a German physicist who discovered X-rays and received the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.

The surname WILHELM is also found in various place names and old spellings, such as Wilhelmshöhe, a former summer residence of the Electors of Hesse-Kassel in Germany, and Wilhelmshaven, a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany, which was named after King Wilhelm I of Prussia.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Wilhelm

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Wilhelm.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Wilhelm was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Wilhelm has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Wilhelm was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Wilhelm, please contact us.

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