Given name
Walburga
“ruler of the fortress; protection”
Walburga is used as a given name. One German interpretation is “ruler of the fortress; protection.”
Original GermanWalpurga
Meaning & origin
What it means
One German interpretation is “ruler of the fortress; protection.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is German.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1893. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Walburga through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 80
- 0 boys · 80 girls
- Most popular year
- 1918
- 9 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 5 in 1925. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 9 in 1918. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 170 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Walburga’s family of names
Walburga has a related form in Walda. Walburga has a related form in Welda. In Polish usage, Walburga has a conventional equivalent in the Slovak form VALBURGA.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Walburga has relatives in 5 languages. Lines run from its German roots to each of them.
Germanwhere Walburga comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 8
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 3
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Walburga
- Saint WalpurgaWest Saxon saint710–779
- Walburga Habsburg DouglasAustrian Imperial and Royal and Swedish Politicianborn 1958
- Walburga, Lady PagetGerman diarist, writer and friend of Queen Victoria (1839-1929)
- Walburga OesterreichAmerican housewife (1880–1961)1900–1961
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Walburga, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Lue
Lue is a surname from Dutch, ultimately from German.
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“determined protector” · “one who is protected”
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Ilma
“determined protector”
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Zelma
“having divine protection”
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Wilma
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>99% girls
Winifred
“peaceful friend” · “fair; white-skinned”
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Bertha
“one who is famously bright and beautiful”
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Elma
“having God's protection”
>99% girls