Wolf

Animal name or diminutive of Wolfgang, German

" traveling wolf"

Wolf Origin and Meaning

The name Wolf is both a boy's name and a girl's name of German origin meaning " traveling wolf".

Wolf is a name with a split personality. It can be seen as one of the fierce animal names, like Fox and Bear and Puma, with a touch of the werewolf, or it can be viewed as a quieter, Wolf Blitzer kind of name, fairly common in German (where is pronounced Vulf) and Jewish families, sometimes as a short form of Wolfgang, or even Wolfram or Wolfhart.

CNN newscaster Blitzer inherited the name from his grandfather. Other Wolfs of note include British screenwriter Wolf Mankowitz, who was instrumental in the early James Bond films, painter Wolf Kahn, and the hero of Jack London's 1904 novel The Sea-Wolf, Wolf Larsen.

Despite all it has going for it, Wolf is relatively rare and has never been given to more than 80 babies in a single year. But now that Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott chose it for their infant son, Wolf is primed to climb the charts.

Spelling variations Wolfe or Woolf push it into surname territory, while nickname Wolfie definitely domesticates it.

Wolf Popularity

• 382 Nameberry 2023
• 731 Unique 2022
• 960 England 2020