How rare is the name Wilbur?

13,535 people in the United States have the first name Wilbur, about 1 in 22,315. It ranks #2,024 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

WILBUR

#2,024

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
13,535
About
1 in 22,315
This common or more
78.2%
Who bears it

Of the 13,535 people named Wilbur, 70% reported their origin as White, 19.4% as Black and 4.7% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are male (99.7%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Wilbur peaked in 1918, when 1,809 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1918
Births that year
1,809
In 2025*
27 ▼99%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 57,196 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Wilbur by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1910s, when it ranked #228. The largest share of babies named Wilbur, 47.7%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#349914
1890s#3941,142
1900s#3541,839
1910s#22812,475
1920s#26815,834
1930s#3649,109
1940s#5365,985
1950s#7914,150
1960s#1,0912,572
1970s#1,7091,273
1980s#2,533782
1990s#4,699433
2000s#8,393259
2010s#9,043251
2020s#7,971178
Before 19013.9%
Greatest Generation 1901–2747.7%
Silent Generation 1928–4527.4%
Baby boom 1946–6413.7%
Generation X 1965–804.2%
Millennials 1981–961.8%
Generation Z 1997–120.7%
2013 and later0.6%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Wilbur is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Wilbur has been most common in Kansas (2.6×), Iowa (2.4×), and South Carolina (2.2×), and least common in Utah (0.08×).

49,277 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Wilbur

#2,022 Gabe · 13,542#2,023 Rosalia · 13,538#2,025 Ally · 13,525#2,026 Javon · 13,502

Spelled almost the same

3 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Wilbur, most common first.

#3,742 Wilber · 5,360#5,919 Wilburn · 2,790#24,775 Wilburt · 387

Also a last name

As a last name, Wilbur ranks #3,929 of 156,621, with 8,766 people. See Wilbur as a last name

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