Meaning and background
The story behind Wilbur
Wilbur comes to first-name use through an English surname associated with Middle English Wildbor, a nickname meaning 'wild boar'. This is quite a different history from William even though both begin Wil-. Readers may also recognise Wilbur as the pig in E. B. White's Charlotte's Web or from aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright. Those are later associations, not the source of the original surname meaning.
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About Wilbur
Recorded as a dog’s name
Wilbur appears in 15 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/wɪlbɚ/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/wɪlbɚ/ · primary stress on syllable 1W IH1 L B ER0
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.