Wilhelm
Germanic at root, built from words for "will" and "protection": a resolute protector. Only about 2,400 men in Poland carry it and fewer arrive each year, so most Poles have never met one.
Wilhelm Pronunciation
Wilhelm is pronounced VEEL-khelm (/ˈvilxɛlm/).
What Wilhelm means
Where Wilhelm comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Wilhelm comes from two old Germanic roots. The first, wil, means will or resolve; the second, helm, means helmet or protection. Together they give the meaning the name still holds in Polish, zdecydowany obrońca, a resolute protector.
The name traveled far. Its Norman cousin William crossed into England after 1066 and settled there for good. German history, meanwhile, kept the older spelling close. Wilhelm Grimm, one of the two brothers behind the fairy tales, carried it. So did Wilhelm Röntgen, who discovered X-rays in 1895 and later took the first Nobel Prize in Physics.
The cross-gender form, Wilhelmina, once named a Dutch queen who reigned for more than fifty years. In a Polish class register, a Wilhelm still stands out among the Jakubs and Szymons, a little formal, faintly old-fashioned. The roots underneath it stay plain: resolve joined to protection, a resolute protector.
When Wilhelm celebrates name day
Wilhelm appears 17 times in the Polish name day calendar, 3 of them as a main name, the first on 10 January.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.
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in 113 days1 JanuaryFriday in 2027
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in 150 days7 FebruarySunday in 2027
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in 153 days10 FebruaryWednesday in 2027
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in 160 days17 FebruaryWednesday in 2027
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in 161 days18 FebruaryThursday in 2027
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in 249 days17 MayMonday in 2027
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in 260 days28 MayFriday in 2027
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in 261 days29 MaySaturday in 2027
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in 271 days8 JuneTuesday in 2027
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in 287 days24 JuneThursday in 2027
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in 288 days25 JuneFriday in 2027
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in 298 days5 JulyMonday in 2027
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in 319 days26 JulyMonday in 2027
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in 322 days29 JulyThursday in 2027
How many people are named Wilhelm
1 in 8824 men in Poland is named Wilhelm. 2,419 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #648 among male names.
Wilhelm's popularity over time
6 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #903 among newborns. It is making a comeback after a low in 2012. Still the #648 name among living men, even as it slips to #903 among newborns.
Where Wilhelm is most popular
Wilhelm is most popular in Silesian, 159% above the national average (12 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Masovian (+150%) and Lesser Poland (+8%). It is least common in Lower Silesian and Greater Poland, 37% and 9% below average respectively.
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Silesian12 boys born+159%
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Masovian18 boys born+150%
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Lesser Poland5 boys born+8%
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Pomeranian3 boys born0%
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Greater Poland4 boys born−9%
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Lower Silesian2 boys born−37%
Wilhelm as a middle name
Wilhelm is a first name for 2,419 men in Poland and a middle name for another 3,586, a 40/60 split, almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 144th, between Michael (3,643) and Klaudiusz (3,489).
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#142 Teofil3,698
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#143 Michael3,643
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#144 Wilhelm3,586
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#145 Klaudiusz3,489
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#146 Brunon3,239