Wessel (name)

Wessel is a diminutive of the given name Werner of Frisian, German, and Dutch origin. People with this name include:

Given name

 * Wessel van Diepen (born 1966), Dutch radio host
 * Wessel Freytag von Loringhoven (1899-1944), German military commander and member of the German Resistance
 * Wessel Gansfort (1419-1489), Dutch theologian and early humanist
 * Wessel te Gussinklo, Dutch poet, winner of the 1996 Ferdinand Bordewijk Prize
 * Wessel Myburgh (born 1990), Namibian cricketer
 * Marthinus Wessel Pretorius (1819-1901), first president of the South African Republic
 * Wessel Roux (born 1975), South African rugby player
 * Wessel Jacobus Wessels (1865-1945), Boer general
 * Peter Wessel Zapffe (1899 – 1990), Norwegian metaphysician, author, lawyer and mountaineer

Surname

 * Andreas Wessel (1858–1940), Norwegian physician and politician
 * Bernhard Wessel (1936-2022), German football goalkeeper
 * Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, American (Iowa) politician
 * Birgit Wessel (1911–2000), Norwegian textile artist
 * Caspar Wessel (1745–1818), Dano-Norwegian mathematician who was the first person to describe the complex numbers
 * Christer Wessel (born 1943), Swedish curler
 * David Wessel (born 1954), American journalist
 * Dick Wessel (1913–1965), American film actor
 * Ellisif Wessel (1866–1949), Norwegian writer, trade unionist and politician
 * Franz Wessel (1903–1958), German judge
 * Friedrich Wessel (born 1945), German fencer
 * Hedvig Wessel (born 1995), Norwegian freestyle skier
 * Helene Wessel (1898-1969), German politician
 * Hendricus Wessel (1887–1977), Dutch long-distance runner
 * Henry Wessel, Jr. (1942–2018), American photographer
 * Horst Wessel (1907-1930), a Nazi brownshirt who was glorified as a martyr by the party in the Horst-Wessel-Lied
 * Jessie Wessel (1894–1948), Swedish actress
 * Johan Herman Wessel (1742–1785), Dano-Norwegian writer (brother of Caspar Wessel)
 * Kai Wessel (countertenor) (born 1964), German countertenor
 * Kathrin Weßel (born 1967), German long-distance runner
 * Mark Wessel (1894–1973), American pianist and composer
 * Mark Wessel, American educator
 * Mike Wessel (born 1977), American mixed martial arts fighter
 * Morris A. Wessel (1917–2016), American pediatrician
 * Ole Christopher Wessel (1744–1794), Norwegian jurist and land surveyor
 * Pål Wessel, Norwegian geophysicist
 * Paul Wessel (1904-1967), East German politician
 * Peter Wessel (1690-1720), also known as Tordenskjold, a Dano-Norwegian naval war hero
 * Ulrich Wessel (1946 –1975), German member of the Red Army Faction
 * Walter Wessel (1892 –1943), German Wehrmacht general
 * Wilhelm Wessel, 17th-century German book publisher