Wilhemina
Feminine · “will and helmet”
Wilhemina is missing an l, and the missing letter makes a four-syllable name noticeably easier to get through. Wilhelmina is the German feminine of Wilhelm, which is William, and the name behind all of them is a compound about wanting and about armor — will and helmet, put together the way Germanic names always were.
How old is the name Wilhemina?
Wilhemina first appears in US birth records in 1886 — 139 years ago. The typical Wilhemina alive today was born around 1949, making them about 76 years old. About 500 people named Wilhemina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Wilhemina most popular?
Wilhemina peaked in 1886, reaching #993 nationally. Today it ranks #14942, 13,949 places below that high. See the whole 1886 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Willahelm to Wilhemina
The story of Wilhemina
William was one of the very few names the Normans imposed successfully on England, and it became the commonest man's name in the language for several centuries. The feminine came later and from the continent: German and Dutch built Wilhelmina, and it reached English-speaking countries partly through royalty — a Dutch queen carried it for most of the first half of the twentieth century. The name is long, and long names get shortened in speech before they get shortened on paper. Dropping the interior l is what happens when a name is written down by someone repeating what they heard.
Meaning
will and helmet
Willahelm joins wil, will or desire, with helm, a helmet or protection — the same helm that ends Anselm and stands behind the English word. Compound names of this kind were assembled from prestigious elements rather than for a combined sense, so resolute protector is a modern gloss rather than what anyone meant. The elements themselves are not disputed. The dropped l changes none of it and is invisible in speech.
How the name formed
- Willahelm
- Wilhelm
- Wilhelmina
- Wilhemina
Related forms: Wilhelmine · Wilhelmina · Guillemette · Guglielmina · Williamina
Pronouncing Wilhemina
wil-uh-MEE-nuh
wil-uh-MEE-nuh, four syllables, stress on the third. The full spelling has the same four — the dropped l falls in an unstressed cluster and is barely sounded even when it is written, which is exactly why it could go missing.
Nicknames for Wilhemina
High
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
- 1886
- Most girls named
- 196135 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #993reached in 1886
- Change vs 2023
- −28.6%5 in 2025, from 7
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.
Wilhemina in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Wilhelmine in German — same name
- Wilhelmina in Dutch — same name
- Guillemette in French — related form
- Guglielmina in Italian — related form
- Williamina in Scots — related form
Wilheminas among us
people named Wilhemina are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 321,453 born in 2025 was named Wilhemina
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
Wilhemina 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
Wilhemina beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Wilhemina in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Mina, Willa and Billie are three complete short forms in three quite different registers.
- The name has a documented royal history and a very well attested Germanic derivation.
- The missing letter genuinely eases a consonant cluster that the full spelling makes readers work through.
- Wilhelmina is the standard spelling and this will be read as a slip rather than a variant.
- Four syllables is a long first name, and it will be shortened by other people almost immediately.
- The name is strongly associated with the oldest living generations and with a particular European formality.
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Wilhemina
Feminine · #14942 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Wilheminas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Wilhemina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Wilhemina in 2025?
- Wilhemina ranks #14942 among US girl names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Wilhemina?
- About 1 in every 321,453 US girls born in 2025 was named Wilhemina — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Wilhemina with classmates?
- Wilhemina will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Wilhemina
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hester#14942 · Lyda#14942 · Zula#14942 · Zona#14942 · Ula#14942 · Belva#14942 · Lucetta#14942 · Leala#14942
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Wilhemina? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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