Wolfgang

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 4 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Wolfgang is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name60K records spelled Wolfgang2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Australia, Venezuela, United Kingdom

  Also written Wõlfgãng

• Polish given name10.0K records spelled Wolfgang25 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, Czechia, Croatia, Slovakia

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Croatian

  Also written Вольфганг, Volfgang, Волфганг, Вольфґанґ

• Danish given name2.3K records spelled Wolfgang6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Denmark, Norway, United States, Sweden

  Languages: Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian

  Also written Wölfgång

73 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Wolfgang is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In German, Germanico: wolf 'lupo' + gang 'passo, andatura'.

  as a name·Dizionario Dei Nomi e Cognomi Italiani

• In Swedish, Wolfgang är ett tyskt namn, sammansatt av fornhögtyskt wolf ’varg, ulv’ och gang ’vapenlek’. En känd namnbärare var kompositören Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91).

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In German, from wolf- 'wolf' + gang 'going, walk'

  as a name·Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

• In German, German given name 'wolf-path'.

  as a name·Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

• Germanic: ‘track of the wolf’.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 79 years between 1929–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Johann Wolfgang von Goetheb. 1749DEGerman writer, artist, natural scientist and politician (1749–1832)
• Wolfgang Amadè Mozartb. 1756ATAustrian composer of the Classical period (1756-1791)
• Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozartb. 1791ATAustrian composer, teacher and performer; youngest son of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1791-1844)
• Wolfgang Köhlerb. 1887DEGerman-American psychologist and phenomenologist (1887-1967)
• Erich Wolfgang Korngoldb. 1897ATAustrian-born American composer and conductor (1897–1957)
• Wolfgang Paulib. 1900ATphysicist, Nobel prize winner (1900–1958)
• Wolfgang Reithermanb. 1909USAmerican animator (1909–1985)
• Wolfgang Schäubleb. 1942DEGerman politician and statesman (1942–2023)
• Wolfgang Schüsselb. 1945ATChancellor of Austria from 2000 to 2007
• Felix Magathb. 1953DEnot in their usual nameGerman association football player and manager

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 520 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Wolfgang?

We estimate roughly 7.8 thousand people bear Wolfgang (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Wolfgang have the most bearers?

Wolfgang is most frequently recorded in Germany, where it is most often spelled wolfgang.

How common is Wolfgang compared with other names?

In Germany, Wolfgang is the 11th most common given name of 154,506 given names recorded there.

Is Wolfgang a male or female name?

Wolfgang is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Wolfgang mean?

Recorded meaning: Patronymical second element -gang in the given name Wolfgang; bearer count 259.