Wilde

For other uses, see Wilde (disambiguation).

Wilde

Language	Old English
Origin
Meaning	"high spirited, a leader"; "a person worth of high respect, dictator"; (descriptive) "person who has attained a higher form"; "from an area of educated beings: a classist" (residential)[ citation needed ]
Region of origin	England
Other names
Variant forms	Whilde, Wylde, Wyldes, Weald, Weild, Weld, Welds, Wyeld, Wield
Frequency Comparisons [1]

Wilde is a surname. Notable people with the name include:

In arts and entertainment

In film, television, and theatre

• Andrew Wilde (actor), English actor
• Barbie Wilde (born 1960), Canadian actress
• Brian Wilde (1927–2008), British actor
• Cornel Wilde (1912–1989), American actor and film director
• Hagar Wilde (1905–1971), screenplay writer
• Lois Wilde (1907–1995), American actress, model, dancer, and beauty contest winner
• Marty Wilde (born 1939), British rock and roll singer and actor; father of Kim and Ricky Wilde
• Olivia Wilde (born 1984), American actress
• Patrick Wilde, British television, stage and screenwriter
• Sonya Wilde (born 1937), American actress
• Ted Wilde (1893–1929), comedy writer and director of silent movies

In music

• Andrew Wilde (pianist) (born 1965), English classical pianist
• Danny Wilde (musician) (born 1956), American musician and founding member of The Rembrandts
• David Wilde (1935–2025), British pianist and composer
• Jinian Wilde, British singer, part of Uniting Nations and other musical projects
• Kim Wilde (born 1960), British pop singer and pop culture figure
• Marty Wilde (born 1939), British rock and roll singer and actor; father of Kim and Ricky Wilde
• Ricky Wilde (born 1961), British songwriter, musician, and record producer
• Wilbur Wilde (born 1955), Australian saxophonist

In other arts

• Eduardo Wilde (1844–1913), Argentine politician, writer, and physician
• Jane Wilde (1821–1896), Irish political activist, poet, and folklorist; mother of Oscar Wilde
• John Wilde (1919–2006), American painter associated with Magic Realism
• Liz Wilde (born 1971), American radio personality
• Nurit Wilde (born 1971), Israeli-born photographer, socialite, and occasional actress
• Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), Irish poet and playwright
• Stuart Wilde (1946–2013), British writer

In government, law, and politics

• Eduardo Wilde (1844–1913), Argentine politician, writer, and physician
• Fran Wilde (born 1948), New Zealand politician
• James Plaisted Wilde, Baron Penzance (1816–1899), British judge, rose-breeder, and proponent of the Baconian theory of the works of Shakespeare
• John Wilde (jurist) (1590–1669), English lawyer and politician
• Louis J. Wilde (1865–1924), American banker and politician
• Thomas Wilde, 1st Baron Truro (1782–1858), Lord Chancellor of England
• William Allan Wilde (1827–1902), American publisher and politician

In sport

• Federico Wilde (1909–?), Argentine footballer
• Jimmy Wilde (1892–1969), Welsh world boxing champion
• Joaquin Wilde (born 1986), American professional wrestler
• Sam Wilde, English rugby league footballer
• Walter Wilde (1908–1968), Somerset cricketer

In science and technology

• Henry Wilde (engineer) (1833–1919), British engineer and inventor of the self-energizing dynamo
• Henry Tingle Wilde (1872–1912), English chief officer on the RMS Titanic
• Krzysztof Wilde (born 1966), Polish engineer, rector of Gdańsk University of Technology
• William Wilde (1815–1876), Irish eye and ear surgeon, writer on medicine, archaeology and folklore, father of Oscar Wilde
• Winston Wilde, American sexologist

In other fields

• Dorothy Wilde (1895–1941), Anglo-Irish socialite
• Maud Wilde (1880–1965), physician, organizational founder, and author
• Michael Wilde (born 1952), English businessman

See also

• De Wilde
• Dewilde
• Wild (surname), list of people with the surname Wild
• Vilde

Notes

1. "Wilde Surname at Forebears". Forebears. Retrieved 2015-01-03.