Wilhelmina
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Meaning
Dutch and German feminine form of Wilhelm ("will helmet")
Goes by Billie, Mina, Minnie, Willa. See all nicknames
The story
Wilhelmina is the stately feminine of Wilhelm, will and helmet in the old Germanic elements, a name that arrived in America with Dutch and German families and has always sounded like it owned a portrait gallery. Its defining bearer is Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, who inherited the throne in 1890 at the age of ten and reigned for nearly fifty-eight years; when the Nazis occupied her country she refused to be a decorative exile, broadcasting defiance to the Dutch resistance over Radio Oranje from London until liberation came. Churchill is said to have called her the only man in the Dutch government. In American records Wilhelmina is an old presence that thinned after midcentury and has begun to stir again lately, part of the wider return of long, grand names with sweet short forms: Willa, Mina, Billie. It waited out a century of fashion without ever losing its posture.
How popular is Wilhelmina around the world?
In the United States, 763 babies were named Wilhelmina between 2020 and 2025. In South Australia, 2 girls were registered as Wilhelmina in 2017.
Wilhelmina is on the official records of the United States, South Australia, England and Wales, Canada, Austria, Spain and Brazil.
United States
1 in 29,000
In the United States, 763 babies were named Wilhelmina between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Wilhelmina peaked in the 1890s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
South Australia
1 in 9,2002017
In South Australia, 2 girls were registered as Wilhelmina in 2017.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
England and Wales
1 in 33,000
In England and Wales, 18 girls named Wilhelmina were born in 2025, ranked 1,639th among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Canada
1 in 33,000
In Canada, 11 girls named Wilhelmina were born in 2024, ranked 1,968th among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Austria
1 in 76,000
In Austria, 1 girl named Wilhelmina was born in 2025, ranked 1,875th among girls that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Spain
1 in 850,000
In Spain, 53 residents are named Wilhelmina, ranked 13,317th among women, with a mean age of 68.5 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 20 people in Brazil were named Wilhelmina, ranked 124,180th, with a median age of 65.
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
New Zealand
last on record 1957
Wilhelmina is not on the 2025 record for New Zealand, where names under 10 in a year are excluded at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Poland
last on record 2020
Wilhelmina is not on the 2025 record for Poland, where names given fewer than 2 times in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)
Not on the record in Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Ireland and Scotland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Wilhelmina
People given the name Wilhelmina in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1950 to 2019. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Wilhelmina deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Wilhelmina truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Wilhelmina fits with your family’s names and surname.
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