Middle High German origin
Source-reportedFrom Middle High German Welf.
Sources for this account (2)
- Wiktionary: GuelfoCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
- Italian Wiktionary: GuelfoCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
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Opening name…
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Middle High German roots
Language context for this entry: Italian
/ˈɡwɛl.fo/ · Italian
01 / Meaning & origin
Guelfo is a masculine given name documented in Italian. English Wiktionary traces it to Middle High German Welf.
From Middle High German Welf.
02 / Across borders
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2
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2 of 2 countries
03 / By the numbers
Follow the spelling through the years, one published dataset at a time.
No official statistics are imported for this spelling. No statistical dataset covering this spelling has been imported yet. See data coverage.
04 / Through time
Passages quoted verbatim from public-domain reference works. They reflect the scholarship of their time, not current consensus, and may use obsolete spellings.
Guelfo— “wolf”
…“Only whelps,” she answered; but he was not to be thus put off, made an inspection, saved the children’s lives, and called them the Wolfen, or wolf-whelps! The _Book of Heroes_, however, makes the Wolfings descend from the brave Sir Hildebrand, and be so called from a wolf on their shield granted them by the Emperor Wolfdietrich, in remembrance of an adventure of his own infancy, when he had been carried off by a she-wolf to her den, and remained there unhurt—whence his name…
…“Only whelps,” she answered; but he was not to be thus put off, made an inspection, saved the children’s lives, and called them the Wolfen, or wolf-whelps! The _Book of Heroes_, however, makes the Wolfings descend from the brave Sir Hildebrand, and be so called from a wolf on their shield granted them by the Emperor Wolfdietrich, in remembrance of an adventure of his own infancy, when he had been carried off by a she-wolf to her den, and remained there unhurt—whence his name of Wolfdietrich. The male line of the Wolfen, however, in time became extinct, and the heiress married one of the Italian House of Este, which adopted the German Wolf in the Italianized form of Guelfo, and constantly used it as a name. Thence when the popes set up Otto d'Este, one of the Wolfen of Bavaria, as anti-emperor in opposition to the House of Hohenstaufen, his partisans were called Welfen; those of the Fredericks, Waiblingen, from the Swabian castle of Waibling.…
Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Part VI, Chapter III (Names From Objects Connected With Mythology), Section II (The Wolf) · Public domain (Project Gutenberg)
People recorded with this given name in Wikidata. Their names may use a different spelling, or include it as a middle or baptismal name.
Duke of Bavaria
Recorded as a middle or baptismal name
Duke of Bavaria
Recorded as a middle or baptismal name
father of Judith of Bavaria
Recorded as a middle or baptismal name
margrave of Tuscany and duke of Spoleto (1115-1191)
Recorded as a middle or baptismal name
duke of Carinthia and margrave of Verona (11th century)
Recorded as a middle or baptismal name
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06 / Behind the facts
Review status: Source-reported — no editorial review recorded yet. Last data change 2026-10-15.
Wiktionary text: CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikidata: CC0. Commons recordings retain their individual file licences. Complete attribution is available in each group above and alongside each chart.
