Wolf
A masculine name of Germanic origin denoting a wolf or brave warrior.
Name Census estimates that about 1,530 living Americans carry the first name Wolf. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wolf today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wolf births was 2021 (107 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wolf. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Wolf with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Wolf is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 224,022 Americans
Peak year
2021
107 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,812
Tracked since 1912
Census
Wolf in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,541 people with the first name Wolf, which placed it at #9,145 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#9,145
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,541 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wolf
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wolf is White at 74.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.4%) and Black (7.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Wolf described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Wolf at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.2% · 1,143
- Hispanic or Latino8.4% · 129
- Black or African American7.6% · 117
- Two or more races7.5% · 116
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 21
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 15
Popularity
Wolf: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wolf from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 555 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wolf by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Wolf during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wolfs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Wolf, while Washington, Colorado, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 94 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wolf
The name Wolf is of Germanic origin, derived from the Old High German word "wolf" which means "wolf" in English. This name has been in use since ancient times and was likely first given to children as a personal name to imbue them with the strength, ferocity, and cunning associated with the wolf.
In Norse mythology, the wolf was a sacred animal associated with the gods Odin and Fenrir. The name Wolf may have been used by ancient Germanic tribes as a way to honor these deities and invoke their protection.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wolf can be found in the Icelandic Landnámabók, a medieval text that documents the settlement of Iceland. The text mentions a man named Úlfur Örnólfsson, who lived in the 9th century and was one of the first settlers of Iceland.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Wolf. One such figure was Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau (1559-1617), a German prince-bishop and architect who was responsible for the construction of the famous Salzburg Cathedral.
Another prominent individual with this name was Wolf Huber (1485-1553), a German Anabaptist leader and theologian who played a significant role in the Radical Reformation movement.
In the realm of literature, Wolf von Lüttichau (1603-1638) was a German poet and dramatist known for his tragedies and comedies, which were influential in the development of German theater.
In more recent times, Wolf Vostell (1932-1998) was a German painter and sculptor who was a pioneer of the Fluxus movement and is considered one of the most important artists of the 20th century.
Finally, Wolf Blitzer (born 1948) is an American journalist and television news anchor who has been the host of CNN's "The Situation Room" since 2005.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Wolf, a name that has endured for centuries and continues to be used today, carrying with it the symbolism and strength associated with its lupine origins.
People
Wolf + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wolf as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Wolf: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wolf?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,530 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wolf going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 224,022 US residents.
Is Wolf a common name?
We classify Wolf as "Rare". It ranks above 92.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,574 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wolf most popular?
The single biggest year for Wolf was 2021, when 107 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wolf is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wolf in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,541 people with the name Wolf, or 0.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,145 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Wolf in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Wolf?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wolf leans strongly male. 1,500 people counted with this name were male (96.9%), compared with 48 female bearers (3.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Wolf?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wolf is White at 74.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.4%) and Black (7.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Wolf most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Wolf in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.2% (1,143 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Wolf in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wolf a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wolf in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Wolf still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wolf in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Wolf can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Wolf?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.