Name
Wilfred
Meaning
Wilfred is a masculine name of Old English origin meaning “desiring peace”.
Wilfred unites the Old English will, desire, with frith, peace: one who wills peace. Its most haunting bearer is Wilfred Owen, the soldier-poet killed a week before the Armistice of 1918, whose name now reads like the meaning it carries.
A top-50 name in early twentieth-century Britain; rare but warmly vintage now.
Popularity in the United States
Boys
Ranked #891 in 1984 · peak #840 in 1982
Data: US Social Security Administration, top-1000 ranks.
At a glance
- Origin
- Old English
- Gender
- Masculine
- Pronounced
- /WIL-fred/
- Themes
- Peace
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Questions
Wilfred is a masculine name of Old English origin meaning “desiring peace”. Wilfred unites the Old English will, desire, with frith, peace: one who wills peace.
Wilfred is traditionally a masculine (boy) name. It is a top-50 name in early twentieth-century Britain; rare but warmly vintage now.
The name Wilfred comes from Old English. Wilfred unites the Old English will, desire, with frith, peace: one who wills peace. Its most haunting bearer is Wilfred Owen, the soldier-poet killed a week before the Armistice of 1918, whose name now reads like the meaning it carries.
Wilfred is pronounced WIL-fred.
More names that mean peace
Names that share this meaning.