Entry № 11538 · German origin

Wilma Wilma — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ WIL-mah /
Gender
Girl
Origin
German
Meaning
"Resolute (Olympic sprinter; Cherokee chief)"
Syllables
2
First recorded
Medieval (German)

A name that means "resolute (olympic sprinter; cherokee chief)".

Wilma is the short form of Wilhelmina, from the Old Germanic wil + helm ("resolute helmet"). Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1998).

Two of the most consequential 20th-century Wilmas.

Resolute (Olympic sprinter; Cherokee chief) — a German name.

The name in its native script.

Wilma
Transliteration
Wilma
Pronunciation
/ ˈwɪl.mə /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Wilma stands.

Wilma does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Wilmas before her.

Real people
Wilma Rudolph
American Olympic sprinter.
1940 – 1994
Wilma Mankiller
First female Cherokee Principal Chief.
1945 – 2010
In fiction
Wilma Flintstone
The Flintstones.
1960

Names connected to Wilma.

The number behind Wilma.

4

The Builder

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Wilma reduce to 4, The Builder. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.