Wilbur (name)

Wilbur is an English and German masculine given name of Germanic origin as well as a surname. The etymology of the name is disputed, however the most accepted theory is that it is composed of the elements wilþī- (Proto-Germanic *wilþijaz-) "wild", and ebur (Proto-Germanic *eburaz) "boar". Another suggestion is that it derives from German willo (Proto-Germanic *wiljô) "will", "wish", "desire", and burg (Proto-Germanic *burgz) "fortress". Notable people with the name include:

Surname

 * Cornelia B. Wilbur (1908–1992), American psychiatrist
 * Crane Wilbur (1886–1973), American writer, actor and director of stage, radio and screen
 * Curtis D. Wilbur (1867–1954), US Secretary of the Navy and Chief Justice of California
 * George P. Wilbur (1941–2023), actor and stuntman
 * Jay Wilbur (1898–1970), British bandleader
 * John Wilbur (disambiguation)
 * Ray Lyman Wilbur (1875–1949), American doctor, president of Stanford University and United States Secretary of the Interior
 * Richard Wilbur (1921–2017), United States Poet Laureate and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner
 * Richard C. Wilbur (1936–2020), judge of the United States Tax Court
 * Sylvia Wilbur (born 1938), British computer scientist
 * Todd Wilbur, American cookbook author
 * William Wilbur, New York politician
 * William H. Wilbur (1888–1979), US Army brigadier general

Given name

 * Wilbur Cave (fl. 1970s–2000s), American politician from South Carolina
 * Wilbur Clark (1908–1965), American businessman and owner of hotels and casinos
 * Wilbur Cobb (1929–2020), American jazz drummer
 * Wilbur J. Cohen (1913–1987), American social scientist and, as a civil servant, one of the key architects of the welfare state
 * Wilbur Cooper (1892–1973), Major League Baseball pitcher
 * Wilbur Lucius Cross (1862–1948), American educator and Governor of Connecticut
 * Wilbur Good (1885–1963), Major League Baseball player
 * Wilbur Jackson (born 1951), American collegiate and National Football League running back
 * Wilbur MacDonald (1933–2020), Canadian politician
 * Wilbur Mills (1909–1992), influential member of the United States House of Representatives from Arkansas
 * Wilbur Ross (born 1937), American investor and 39th Secretary of Commerce
 * Wilbur Schramm (1907–1987), American journalist and academic sometimes called the "father of communication studies"
 * Wilbur Shaw (1902–1954), American racing driver
 * Wilbur Smith (1933–2021), South African novelist
 * Wilbur Soot (born 1996), English YouTuber, Twitch streamer, and musician
 * Wilbur Sweatman (1882–1961), African-American ragtime and dixieland jazz composer, bandleader and clarinetist
 * Wilbur J. Thomas (1920–1947), American combat pilot
 * Wilbur Thomas (fl. 1970s), American former basketball player
 * Wilbur Ware (1923–1979), American jazz double-bassist
 * Wilbur Wood (born 1941), former Major League Baseball pitcher
 * Wilbur Wright (1867–1912), one of the two brothers generally credited with inventing the first successful airplane
 * Wilbur Young (1949–2014), American football player

Fictional characters

 * Wilbur, the pig who is the main character in the book Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
 * Wilbur Grey, a character portrayed by Lou Costello in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
 * Wilbur T. Huggins, the principal of Royal Woods Elementary School in The Loud House
 * Wilbur Mercer, a prophetic character from the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
 * Wilbur Post, Mister Ed's owner
 * Wilbur Robinson, a character from Disney's Meet the Robinsons
 * Wilbur Turnblad, a character from the Broadway musical Hairspray and its 2007 film adaptation
 * Wilbur Whateley, an antagonist in H.P. Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror
 * Wilbur the albatross, in the 1990 Disney film The Rescuers Down Under
 * Wilbur the Wildcat, the athletic mascot of the University of Arizona
 * Wilbur Wonka, Willy Wonka’s father and a dentist in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film)
 * Wilbur, Orville's younger brother and a pilot for Dodo Airlines in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
 * Wilbur the Warthog, a character in  the Madagascar video game