Meaning and background
The story behind Wilson
Wilson began as an English patronymic surname understood as son of Will or William. It is now also used as a given name, with the historical family-name meaning better supported than fanciful translations such as 'leader' or 'protector'. One recognised cultural association is the American president Woodrow Wilson, but the surname is much older. Its English pronunciation is WILL-sən, making it a familiar two-syllable call.
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About Wilson
Recorded as a dog’s name
Wilson appears in 30 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
/wɪlsən/
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
/wɪlsən/ · primary stress on syllable 1W IH1 L S AH0 N
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
Gender association: NYC licence-period records. Any dog can use this name.
- 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.