How popular is the baby name Wilbur in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Wilbur.

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Popularity of the baby name Wilbur


Posts that mention the name Wilbur

Five-name Friday: Boy name like Neville, Wilbur

It’s Five-Name Friday! Here’s today’s baby name request:

I’m interested in boy names you *never* hear people talking about, like Neville and Wilbur. Basically, names that are not at all trendy, the direct opposites of Noah and Liam.

Can you come up with five great baby name ideas for this person?

Here are the rules:

  • Be independent. Choose your five names before checking out anybody else’s five names.
  • Be sincere. These should be names you’d have no problem recommending to someone in real life.
  • Five names only. If your comment includes more than five names, I’ll have to do some deleting. This includes nickname suggestions!

Which five baby names are you going to recommend?

Baby name story: Iowa

American clubwoman Jennie Iowa Berry (1866-1951)
Jennie Iowa Berry

From an early 20th century article about Woman’s Relief Corps president Jennie Iowa Berry:

Mrs. Berry is a native of Iowa. Her father is Wilbur Riley Peet, a soldier of the Sixties, who was born in Iowa when it was still a territory, his people having been among the pioneer settlers. His love for his State is indicated by the second name of his daughter.

The name Iowa last appeared in the SSA data in 1921.

Source: “President of Woman’s Relief Corps.” Hampton’s Magazine, Vol. 23, 1909, pp. 702-703.

Five-name Friday: Girl name for Wilbur’s sister

The new year is almost here! You’re at the liquor store stocking up on some extra champagne for the small get-together you’ll be hosting tomorrow night. (Your friends will be very impressed by your wreath!)

As you shop, you chat with a friendly lady who says she wishes she could do the champagne toast this year, but she can’t because she’s pregnant. You congratulate her, and as you gather up the last of the bottles, she mentions the type of baby name she’s searching for:

Wilbur’s little sister needs an uncommon name with history. Names that we love but can’t use are Sylvie, Lenore and Albertine.

“Do you have any suggestions?”

You’re a name-lover, and you could potentially give her dozens of suggestions. But these bottles are getting heavy, so you only have time to give her five baby name suggestions before you lumber over to the register.

But here’s the fun part: Instead of blurting out the first five names you come up with (which is what you’d be forced to do in real life) you get to press a magical “pause” button, brainstorm for a bit, and then “unpause” the scenario to offer her the best five names you can think of.

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you brainstorm:

  • Be independent. Decide on your five names before looking at anyone else’s five names.
  • Be sincere. Would you honestly suggest these particular baby names out loud to a stranger in the store?
  • Five names only! All names beyond the first five in your comment will be either deleted or replaced with nonsense words.

Finally, here’s the request again:

Wilbur’s little sister needs an uncommon name with history. Names that we love but can’t use are Sylvie, Lenore and Albertine.

Which five baby names are you going to suggest?

Mystery baby name: Wilba

Graph of the usage of the baby name Wilba in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Wilba

In the early 1900s, the baby name Wilba popped up on the SSA’s baby name list for the first time:

  • 1915: 7 baby girls named Wilba
  • 1914: 7 baby girls named Wilba
  • 1913: 18 baby girls named Wilba [debut]
  • 1912: unlisted
  • 1911: unlisted

It was the top debut name of 1913, along with Vilas. But SSA numbers from the early 1900s aren’t too reliable, so let’s see how many Wilbas are in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) for the same time period:

  • 1915: 8 people named Wilba
  • 1914: 7 people named Wilba
  • 1913: 32 people named Wilba
  • 1912: 3 people named Wilba
  • 1911: 4 people named Wilba

The SSA data shows that several wil- names were on the rise during these years, but this doesn’t explain the sudden appearance of Wilba.

Name19111912191319141915
Wilba1877
Wilberta7656
Wilbur (f)758
Wilda89137133177261
Willow6121123
Wilma9141241146917872773
Wilna99172318

Neither set of data shows a strong tie to any specific location, though the SSDI data suggests that Wilba was used more often in the south than in the north.

Any idea where this one could have come from?