A name. A world of connections.

Vilhelm

“someone with a helmet and strong will/determination”

masculineLatin script

Hear the name

Swedish

Origin: Old High German
8 language contexts: Swedish Danish Finnish +5 more
Follow the evidence: 11 cited sources Source-reported

01 / Meaning & origin

About Vilhelm

Vilhelm is a masculine given name documented in Swedish, Danish, Finnish and 5 other languages. English Wiktionary traces it to Old High German Willahelm via Swedish, with the stated meaning “someone with a helmet and strong will/determination”.

3 source accounts

Old High German origin

Source-reported

Meaning: “someone with a helmet and strong will/determination”

From Swedish Vilhelm, from Old High German Willahelm (meaning something like “someone with a helmet and strong will/determination”).

Sources for this account (8)

Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Greek Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Spanish Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
French Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Polish Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Portuguese Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Russian Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Turkish Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Explore 2 more accountsHide additional accountsSource accounts may describe the same origin.

Germanic languages originSource-reportedOf Germanic origin, cognate with German Wilhelm and English William. First recorded as a given name in Sweden in the 12th century.

Of Germanic origin, cognate with German Wilhelm and English William. First recorded as a given name in Sweden in the 12th century.

Sources for this account (1)

Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15

French Wiktionary accountSource-reportedDe l’allemand Wilhelm.

De l’allemand Wilhelm.

Sources for this account (1)

French Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Documented usage

View usage notes (9)

Masculine usage · Wikidata Q12805716
Masculine usage in Danish · Wiktionary: Vilhelm
Masculine usage in Finnish · Wiktionary: Vilhelm
Masculine usage in Faroese · Wiktionary: Vilhelm
Masculine usage in Norwegian · Wiktionary: Vilhelm
Masculine usage in Swedish · Wiktionary: Vilhelm
Masculine usage in Icelandic · Greek Wiktionary: Vilhelm
Masculine usage in Norwegian Bokmål · Spanish Wiktionary: Vilhelm
Masculine usage in Romanian · Spanish Wiktionary: Vilhelm

Explore all 8 language contexts

Linguistic usage labels come from name dictionaries. They are separate from the sex categories recorded in statistical files.

Spelling and script

Written form “Vilhelm” in the Latin script. Wikidata item Q12805716.

Name days: 04-06 (Sweden), 05-28 (Norway).

All pronunciation details (3)

[ˈʋilhe̞lm] — Finnish
/ˈʋilhelm/ — Finnish
/vil.helm/ — Romanian

02 / Across borders

Where Vilhelm is used

Explore official naming statistics and documented language connections around the world.

The name atlas

Across borders

countries in our sources

Select a country to follow Vilhelm’s connections around the world.

3 countries with official statistics. Language records show cultural connections; they do not measure how common a name is.

Selected country

Sweden

Language records

Documented as a given name in Swedish.

Explore Sweden

4 of 4 countries

03 / By the numbers

Popularity over time

Follow the spelling through the years, one published dataset at a time.

Norway

1945–2025 Spelling: Vilhelm

Region and dataset

Recorded category boys

Latest · 2025: 8; births; Rank #370
Peak year: 2023; 15 births

Hover to explore a year. Use arrow keys when a chart point has focus.

Source: Statistics Norway · Norway — published individual first-name birth counts, 1945–2025

Published integer counts retained without rounding.

Per million is unavailable: this source has no matching published total.

Show the data table

Vilhelm in Norway, boys: births and rank by year
Year	Births	Rank	Status
1945	5	323	observed
1946	6	325	observed
1947	5	348	observed
1948	no value	no value	not covered
1949	no value	no value	not covered
1950	no value	no value	not covered
1951	5	349	observed
1952	no value	no value	not covered
1953	no value	no value	not covered
1954	no value	no value	not covered
1955	no value	no value	not covered
1956	no value	no value	not covered
1957	no value	no value	not covered
1958	no value	no value	not covered
1959	no value	no value	not covered
1960	no value	no value	not covered
1961	no value	no value	not covered
1962	6	407	observed
1963	no value	no value	not covered
1964	no value	no value	not covered
1965	no value	no value	not covered
1966	no value	no value	not covered
1967	no value	no value	not covered
1968	no value	no value	not covered
1969	4	547	observed
1970	no value	no value	not covered
1971	no value	no value	not covered
1972	no value	no value	not covered
1973	no value	no value	not covered
1974	no value	no value	not covered
1975	no value	no value	not covered
1976	no value	no value	not covered
1977	no value	no value	not covered
1978	no value	no value	not covered
1979	4	603	observed
1980	no value	no value	not covered
1981	no value	no value	not covered
1982	no value	no value	not covered
1983	no value	no value	not covered
1984	no value	no value	not covered
1985	no value	no value	not covered
1986	no value	no value	not covered
1987	no value	no value	not covered
1988	no value	no value	not covered
1989	no value	no value	not covered
1990	no value	no value	not covered
1991	no value	no value	not covered
1992	no value	no value	not covered
1993	no value	no value	not covered
1994	no value	no value	not covered
1995	no value	no value	not covered
1996	no value	no value	not covered
1997	no value	no value	not covered
1998	no value	no value	not covered
1999	no value	no value	not covered
2000	no value	no value	not covered
2001	no value	no value	not covered
2002	4	507	observed
2003	no value	no value	not covered
2004	4	539	observed
2005	no value	no value	not covered
2006	6	446	observed
2007	4	540	observed
2008	5	493	observed
2009	no value	no value	not covered
2010	10	358	observed
2011	5	481	observed
2012	6	461	observed
2013	8	405	observed
2014	4	515	observed
2015	10	365	observed
2016	12	330	observed
2017	11	336	observed
2018	9	361	observed
2019	7	395	observed
2020	9	335	observed
2021	no value	no value	not covered
2022	11	308	observed
2023	15	270	observed
2024	4	468	observed
2025	8	370	observed

About this dataset and its counting rules

Statistics count the spelling “Vilhelm” as recorded by the publisher. When a spelling has several independent origins, the counts are not split between them. Counts measure births. Gaps are years without a published value, not zeros.

Rates per million are unavailable for this series because no compatible denominator has been imported.

Universe: Born persons for the individual girls' and boys' names published in SSB table 10467.
Rounding: Published integer counts retained without rounding.
Suppression: SSB API: '.' means category not applicable; '..' means data not available. Null cells are not emitted and remain unknown, never zero.
Ranking: computed by NameStoria from published counts; ties share a rank, next rank skips

Retrieved 2026-10-15 · CC-BY-4.0

Read our methodology

04 / Through time

History

Historical scholarship

Passages quoted verbatim from public-domain reference works. They reflect the scholarship of their time, not current consensus, and may use obsolete spellings.

1884From the archives
Vilhelm— “resolute helmet”
Vilhelm, _Slov._ _Hung._ Teu. resolute helmet, 314
Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Glossary of Christian Names · Public domain (Project Gutenberg)

Notable bearers (sourced)

People on Wikidata whose recorded given name is this item (not necessarily their first name), ordered by number of Wikipedia articles. Their names may use a different spelling.

Johan Vilhelm Snellman (1806–1881) — Finnish politician and author (1806–1881) source
Vilhelm Thomsen (1842–1927) — Danish linguist (1842-1927) source
Vilhelm Bjerknes (died 1951) — Norwegian physicist and meteorologist (*1862 – †1951) source
Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864–1916) — Danish artist (1864–1916) source
Vilhelm Moberg (1898–1973) — Swedish journalist, author, playwright, historian, and debater (1898–1973) source

A little story to keep

A name worth keeping.

Take the story of Vilhelm with you. Create a personal name passport with its meaning, roots and connections.

06 / Behind the facts

Sources for this page

Review status: Source-reported — no editorial review recorded yet. Last data change 2026-10-15.

Name origins & languageDictionaries, name records and related forms9

Wikidata Q12805716CC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Greek Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Spanish Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
French Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Polish Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Portuguese Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Russian Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Turkish Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Pronunciation recordingsAudio credits and individual recording licences1

Wikimedia Commons: File:LL-Q9027 (swe)-Moonhouse-Vilhelm.wavCC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15

Historical referencesOriginal texts and their publication details1

Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Glossary of Christian NamesPublic domain (Project Gutenberg) · rev. 2023-03-30 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Official statisticsPublishers, dataset licences and retrieval dates3

Norway — published individual first-name birth counts, 1945–2025
Statistics Norway (SSB) · CC-BY-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Denmark — grouped top baby names, 1985–2025
Statistics Denmark (Danmarks Statistik) · Statistics Denmark attribution terms (commercial and non-commercial reuse permitted) · retrieved 2026-10-15
Finland — first given names of living Finnish citizens in Finland or abroad, 2026-08-03
Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV), Finland · CC-BY-4.0 · retrieved 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.

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About Vilhelm

3 source accounts

Old High German origin

Source-reported

Meaning: “someone with a helmet and strong will/determination”

From Swedish Vilhelm, from Old High German Willahelm (meaning something like “someone with a helmet and strong will/determination”).

Sources for this account (8)

Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Greek Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Spanish Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
French Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Polish Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Portuguese Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Russian Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Turkish Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Explore 2 more accountsHide additional accountsSource accounts may describe the same origin.

Germanic languages originSource-reportedOf Germanic origin, cognate with German Wilhelm and English William. First recorded as a given name in Sweden in the 12th century.

Of Germanic origin, cognate with German Wilhelm and English William. First recorded as a given name in Sweden in the 12th century.

Sources for this account (1)

Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15

French Wiktionary accountSource-reportedDe l’allemand Wilhelm.

De l’allemand Wilhelm.

Sources for this account (1)

French Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Documented usage

View usage notes (9)

Masculine usage · Wikidata Q12805716
Masculine usage in Danish · Wiktionary: Vilhelm
Masculine usage in Finnish · Wiktionary: Vilhelm
Masculine usage in Faroese · Wiktionary: Vilhelm
Masculine usage in Norwegian · Wiktionary: Vilhelm
Masculine usage in Swedish · Wiktionary: Vilhelm
Masculine usage in Icelandic · Greek Wiktionary: Vilhelm
Masculine usage in Norwegian Bokmål · Spanish Wiktionary: Vilhelm
Masculine usage in Romanian · Spanish Wiktionary: Vilhelm

Explore all 8 language contexts

Linguistic usage labels come from name dictionaries. They are separate from the sex categories recorded in statistical files.

Spelling and script

Written form “Vilhelm” in the Latin script. Wikidata item Q12805716.

Name days: 04-06 (Sweden), 05-28 (Norway).

All pronunciation details (3)

[ˈʋilhe̞lm] — Finnish
/ˈʋilhelm/ — Finnish
/vil.helm/ — Romanian

Where Vilhelm is used

Explore official naming statistics and documented language connections around the world.

The name atlas

Across borders

countries in our sources

Select a country to follow Vilhelm’s connections around the world.

3 countries with official statistics. Language records show cultural connections; they do not measure how common a name is.

Selected country

Sweden

Language records

Documented as a given name in Swedish.

Explore Sweden

4 of 4 countries

Popularity over time

Follow the spelling through the years, one published dataset at a time.

Norway

1945–2025 Spelling: Vilhelm

Region and dataset

Recorded category boys

Latest · 2025: 8; births; Rank #370
Peak year: 2023; 15 births

Hover to explore a year. Use arrow keys when a chart point has focus.

Source: Statistics Norway · Norway — published individual first-name birth counts, 1945–2025

Published integer counts retained without rounding.

Per million is unavailable: this source has no matching published total.

Show the data table

Vilhelm in Norway, boys: births and rank by year
Year	Births	Rank	Status
1945	5	323	observed
1946	6	325	observed
1947	5	348	observed
1948	no value	no value	not covered
1949	no value	no value	not covered
1950	no value	no value	not covered
1951	5	349	observed
1952	no value	no value	not covered
1953	no value	no value	not covered
1954	no value	no value	not covered
1955	no value	no value	not covered
1956	no value	no value	not covered
1957	no value	no value	not covered
1958	no value	no value	not covered
1959	no value	no value	not covered
1960	no value	no value	not covered
1961	no value	no value	not covered
1962	6	407	observed
1963	no value	no value	not covered
1964	no value	no value	not covered
1965	no value	no value	not covered
1966	no value	no value	not covered
1967	no value	no value	not covered
1968	no value	no value	not covered
1969	4	547	observed
1970	no value	no value	not covered
1971	no value	no value	not covered
1972	no value	no value	not covered
1973	no value	no value	not covered
1974	no value	no value	not covered
1975	no value	no value	not covered
1976	no value	no value	not covered
1977	no value	no value	not covered
1978	no value	no value	not covered
1979	4	603	observed
1980	no value	no value	not covered
1981	no value	no value	not covered
1982	no value	no value	not covered
1983	no value	no value	not covered
1984	no value	no value	not covered
1985	no value	no value	not covered
1986	no value	no value	not covered
1987	no value	no value	not covered
1988	no value	no value	not covered
1989	no value	no value	not covered
1990	no value	no value	not covered
1991	no value	no value	not covered
1992	no value	no value	not covered
1993	no value	no value	not covered
1994	no value	no value	not covered
1995	no value	no value	not covered
1996	no value	no value	not covered
1997	no value	no value	not covered
1998	no value	no value	not covered
1999	no value	no value	not covered
2000	no value	no value	not covered
2001	no value	no value	not covered
2002	4	507	observed
2003	no value	no value	not covered
2004	4	539	observed
2005	no value	no value	not covered
2006	6	446	observed
2007	4	540	observed
2008	5	493	observed
2009	no value	no value	not covered
2010	10	358	observed
2011	5	481	observed
2012	6	461	observed
2013	8	405	observed
2014	4	515	observed
2015	10	365	observed
2016	12	330	observed
2017	11	336	observed
2018	9	361	observed
2019	7	395	observed
2020	9	335	observed
2021	no value	no value	not covered
2022	11	308	observed
2023	15	270	observed
2024	4	468	observed
2025	8	370	observed

About this dataset and its counting rules

Rates per million are unavailable for this series because no compatible denominator has been imported.

Universe: Born persons for the individual girls' and boys' names published in SSB table 10467.
Rounding: Published integer counts retained without rounding.
Suppression: SSB API: '.' means category not applicable; '..' means data not available. Null cells are not emitted and remain unknown, never zero.
Ranking: computed by NameStoria from published counts; ties share a rank, next rank skips

Retrieved 2026-10-15 · CC-BY-4.0

Read our methodology

History

Historical scholarship

Passages quoted verbatim from public-domain reference works. They reflect the scholarship of their time, not current consensus, and may use obsolete spellings.

1884From the archives
Vilhelm— “resolute helmet”
Vilhelm, _Slov._ _Hung._ Teu. resolute helmet, 314
Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Glossary of Christian Names · Public domain (Project Gutenberg)

Notable bearers (sourced)

People on Wikidata whose recorded given name is this item (not necessarily their first name), ordered by number of Wikipedia articles. Their names may use a different spelling.

Johan Vilhelm Snellman (1806–1881) — Finnish politician and author (1806–1881) source
Vilhelm Thomsen (1842–1927) — Danish linguist (1842-1927) source
Vilhelm Bjerknes (died 1951) — Norwegian physicist and meteorologist (*1862 – †1951) source
Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864–1916) — Danish artist (1864–1916) source
Vilhelm Moberg (1898–1973) — Swedish journalist, author, playwright, historian, and debater (1898–1973) source

Sources for this page

Review status: Source-reported — no editorial review recorded yet. Last data change 2026-10-15.

Name origins & languageDictionaries, name records and related forms9

Wikidata Q12805716CC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Greek Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Spanish Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
French Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Polish Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Portuguese Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Russian Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Turkish Wiktionary: VilhelmCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Pronunciation recordingsAudio credits and individual recording licences1

Wikimedia Commons: File:LL-Q9027 (swe)-Moonhouse-Vilhelm.wavCC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15

Historical referencesOriginal texts and their publication details1

Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Glossary of Christian NamesPublic domain (Project Gutenberg) · rev. 2023-03-30 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Official statisticsPublishers, dataset licences and retrieval dates3

Norway — published individual first-name birth counts, 1945–2025
Statistics Norway (SSB) · CC-BY-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Denmark — grouped top baby names, 1985–2025
Statistics Denmark (Danmarks Statistik) · Statistics Denmark attribution terms (commercial and non-commercial reuse permitted) · retrieved 2026-10-15
Finland — first given names of living Finnish citizens in Finland or abroad, 2026-08-03
Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV), Finland · CC-BY-4.0 · retrieved 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.

A story to pass on.

About Vilhelm

Old High German origin

Where Vilhelm is used

Across borders

Sweden

Popularity over time

Norway

History

Historical scholarship

Notable bearers (sourced)

Related names

Different forms. Shared stories.

Meet the family

Related names in the catalogue

A name worth keeping.

Sources for this page

A story to pass on.

About Vilhelm

Old High German origin

Where Vilhelm is used

Across borders

Sweden

Popularity over time

Norway

History

Historical scholarship

Notable bearers (sourced)

Related names

Different forms. Shared stories.

Meet the family

Related names in the catalogue

A name worth keeping.

Sources for this page