Wilbert
Masculine · “bright will”
Wilbert is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 40,015 boys against 178 girls since 1880.
Wilbert pairs two of the most productive words in Germanic naming: will and bright. Nearly every old Germanic name is a compound of two such ordinary words, and this is one of the tidiest examples.
How old is the name Wilbert?
Wilbert was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Wilbert alive today was born around 1936, making them about 89 years old. About 15,000 people named Wilbert are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Wilbert most popular?
Wilbert peaked in 1920, reaching #160 nationally. Today it ranks #4857, 4,697 places below that high. See the whole 1920 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Wilberht to Wilbert
The story of Wilbert
Wilberht was an Anglo-Saxon and Frankish name, and an eighth-century English missionary of that name worked in Frisia alongside the better-remembered Boniface — which is how the name survived in the Low Countries after it had thinned out in England. Dutch and German emigration returned it to America in the nineteenth century, where it joined the crowded -bert family in the records and peaked around 1920.
Meaning
bright will
From the Germanic wil, 'will' or 'desire', and beraht, 'bright'. The first element also gives William and Wilfred; the second gives Albert, Herbert, Robert and Bertha. Neither is in any doubt, and the compound is transparent.
How the name formed
- Wilberht
- Wilbert
Related forms: Wilbert · Wilbrecht · Wilbur
Pronouncing Wilbert
WIL-burt
Two syllables, stress on the first. No variation between English accents.
Nicknames for Wilbert
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 1921899 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #160reached in 1920
- Change vs 2022
- −23.1%20 in 2025, from 26
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Wilbert in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Wilbert in Dutch — same name
- Wilbrecht in German — related form
- Wilbur in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Wilberts among us
people named Wilbert are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 85,404 born in 2025 was named Wilbert
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Wilbert sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Wilbert beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Wilbert in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Both elements are documented and the compound means something coherent.
- Will and Bert are both available and are very different in register.
- It carries a real Anglo-Saxon and Dutch history rather than being a nineteenth-century assembly.
- Wilbert and Wilbur are easily confused and both were common in the same decades.
- The whole -bert family is firmly period-coded to the turn of the last century.
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What they receive
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Wilbert
Masculine · #4857 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Wilberts are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 15,000 people named Wilbert are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Wilbert in 2025?
- Wilbert ranks #4857 among US boy names in 2025, with 20 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Wilbert?
- About 1 in every 85,404 US boys born in 2025 was named Wilbert — 20 in all.
- Will my child share the name Wilbert with classmates?
- Wilbert will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Wilbert
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Carlyle#4857 · Russ#4857 · Hercules#4857 · Marcial#4857 · Lauro#4857 · Marin#4857 · Gil#4857 · Aloysius#4857
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Wilbert? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Wilbert and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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