Wolf

Animal name or diminutive of Wolfgang, German
" traveling wolf"

Wolf Origin and Meaning

The name Wolf is a boy'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.

# 208 on Nameberry

Wolf Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Wolf Popularity

Famous People Named Wolf

  • Wolf
    nickname of Adolf Hitler
  • Wolf Isaac Blitzer
    American TV journalist
  • Wolf Ruvinskis
    Mexican actor
  • Wolf Larson (born Wolfgang von Wyszecki)
    German,Canadian actor
  • Wolf Kahler
    German actor
  • Wolf Hoffmann
    German guitarist of metal band Accept
  • (Karl) Wolf Biermann
    German singer,songwriter
  • Wolf Mail
    Canadian blues rock musician
  • Wolf Martin Garber
    birth name of Bill Macy, American actor
  • Wolf Wiels (b. 2008)
    son of singer Free Souffriau and Miguel Wiels
  • Wolf Thomas Dres Stephan (b. 2013)
    son of Princess Tatiana Luise of Hohenlohe,Langenburg and Hubertus Stephan; great,great,grandnephew of Prince Philip
  • Wolf Robert Snow (b. 2014)
    son of TV presenter Dan Snow
  • Wolf Aurelius Hawkins (b. 2015)
    son of fitness bloggers Tammy Hembrow and Reece Hawkins
  • Wolf Rhys Meyers (b. 2016)
    son of actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers
  • Wolf Dillon Reece Homme (b. 2016)
    son of musicians Brody Dalle and Josh Homme
  • Wolf Nine Carroll (b. 2017)
    son of footballer Andy Carroll
  • Elijah Wolf O'Connell
    son of model Amanda Swafford and Tobias O'Connell
  • Nakoa
    Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha Momoa (b. 2008), son of actors Jason Momoa and Lisa Bonet
  • William Wolf Howey (b. 2009)
    son of actors Sarah Shahi & Steve Howey
  • Balthazar Wolf Burwell (b. 2015)
    son of TV journalist Victoria Recano and Tom Burwell
  • Scott Wolf
    American actor

Wolf in Pop Culture

  • Wolf
    a wolf in the "Chronicles of Ancient Darkness" series by Michelle Paver
  • Winston "The Wolf" Wolffe
    character in film "Pulp Fiction"
  • Wolf
    character in the miniseries"The 10th Kingdom"
  • Wolf Larsen
    character in "The Sea,Wolf," a novel by Jack London
  • Wolf aka Ze'ev Kesley
    main character in "Lunar Chronicles" by Marissa Meyer
  • Father and Mother Wolf
    characters in Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book
  • Wolf
    character in "The Talisman" by Stephen King and Peter Straub
  • The Wolf aka Ezra
    character in "The Night Angel Trilogy"
  • Wolf
    code name for a character in "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz
  • Bigby Wolf
    character in the Fables comic series
  • Wolf O'Donnell
    character in the Star Fox video game series
  • Sniper Wolf
    character in video game Metal Gear Solid
  • Wolf Hawkfield
    character in the Virtua Fighter video game series
  • The Big Bad Wolf
    fairy tale villain
  • Clawd Wolf
    son of the werewolf in "Monster High" show and series
  • Wolf Edmunds
    an astronaut in "Interstellar"