Wolfgang is a German male given name traditionally popular in Germany and Austria. Its earliest known bearer was a tenth century saint. The name is a combination of the Old High German word wulf, meaning "wolf" and gang, meaning "path, journey". Grimm (Teutonic Mythology p. 1093) interpreted the name as that of a hero in front of whom walks the "wolf of victory". A Latin gloss by Arnoldus Emmeramensis interprets the name as Lupambulus.
Notable people called "Wolfgang" include:
- Wolfgang of Regensburg, Bavarian bishop and Catholic saint (d. 994)
- Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen (1492–1566)
- Wolfgang Bauer, name of at least three notable people
- Wolfgang Bolyai (1775–1856), Hungarian mathematician
- Wolfgang Borchert, German author and playwright
- Wolfgang Flür, German musician, member of Kraftwerk
- Wolfgang Gartner, an Electro House DJ
- Wolfgang Herold, producer
- Wolfgang Ketterle, German physicist
- Wolfgang Klietmann, German pathologist, microbiologist, and businessman
- Wolfgang Kosack, German Egyptologist
- Wolfgang Kuck, German volleyball player
- Wolfgang Langewiesche, German aviation expert and author
- Wolfgang Leonhard, German professor and expert on communism
- Wolfgang Loitzl, Austrian ski jumper
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austro-German composer
- Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian physicist
- Wolfgang Petersen, German film director
- Wolfgang Preiss, German actor
- Wolfgang Puck, American chef
- Wolfgang Priklopil, Austrian criminal
- Wolfgang Reitherman, German-American animator of classic Disney films
- Wolfgang Schmidt, German discus thrower
- Wolfgang Schneiderhan (violinist) (1915–2002), Austrian violinist
- Wolfgang Schneiderhan (general) (born 1946), German general
- Wolfgang Tillmans, German fine-art photographer and artist
- Wolfgang Van Halen, American Musician and member of Van Halen
- Wolfgang von Kempelen, Hungarian author and inventor
- Wolfgang von Leyden, German philosopher
- Wolfgang Wagner (1919–2010), German opera director
- Wolfgang Weichselbaumer, hurdy-gurdy craftsman
- Wolfgang Werlé, German murderer
- Wolfgang Weyrauch, German writer and playwright
- Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken, 16th-century Duke of Zweibrücken
Famous quotes containing the word wolfgang:
“Man ... knows only when he is satisfied and when he suffers, and only his sufferings and his satisfactions instruct him concerning himself, teach him what to seek and what to avoid. For the rest, man is a confused creature; he knows not whence he comes or whither he goes, he knows little of the world, and above all, he knows little of himself.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
“What you desire when young, you have in abundance when old.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
“The errors of the observer come from the qualities of the human mind.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)