Wheeler

Where Wheeler comes from

Wheeler hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #505 among boys — 13 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1890
    Wheeler Vivian Oakman born
    American silent film actor
  3. 1892
    Wheeler Dryden born
    English-born American actor
  4. 1899
    Peak, #384
    23 babies named Wheeler — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1901
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births.
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Wheeler Vivian Oakman · American silent film actor, 1890–1949
  • Wheeler Dryden · English-born American actor, 1892–1957
  • Wheeler Winston Dixon · American filmmaker and scholar, born 1950
  • Wheeler L. Baker · President of Hargrave Military Academy, born 1938
  • Wheeler Thackston · American orientalist, born 1944

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.