Wilbur
Where Wilbur comes from
From an Old English female given name Wilburg, from wil (“will”) + burh (“fortress”).
Along the way
- 1865Wilbur Scoville bornAmerican pharmacist
- 1880First SSA yearAlready #162 among boys — 82 babies in the first year on record.
- 1913Peak, #911,044 babies named Wilbur — more than any year before or since.
- 1937Wilbur L. Ross Jr. bornUnited States 39th Secretary of Commerce
- 1945The fadeThe first year with half the peak's births — down to #258.
In the dictionary
- A male given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
- Wilbur Scoville · American pharmacist, 1865–1942
- Wilbur L. Ross Jr. · United States 39th Secretary of Commerce, born 1937
- Wilbur Thompson · American track and field athlete, gold medal in shot put at the 1948 Summer Olympics, 1921–2013
- Wilbur Wright · American aviation pioneer, 1867–1912
- Wilbur Cush · Northern Irish footballer, 1928–1981
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.