Wessel (name)

Wessel is a diminutive of the given name Werner of Frisian, German, and Dutch origin. People with this name include:

Given name

• Wessel van Diepen (born 1966), Dutch radio host
• Wessel Freytag von Loringhoven (1899-1944), German military commander and member of the German Resistance
• Wessel Gansfort (1419-1489), Dutch theologian and early humanist
• Wessel te Gussinklo, Dutch poet, winner of the 1996 Ferdinand Bordewijk Prize
• Wessel Myburgh (born 1990), Namibian cricketer
• Marthinus Wessel Pretorius (1819-1901), first president of the South African Republic
• Wessel Roux (born 1975), South African rugby player
• Wessel Jacobus Wessels (1865-1945), Boer general
• Peter Wessel Zapffe (1899 – 1990), Norwegian metaphysician, author, lawyer and mountaineer

Surname

• Andreas Wessel (1858–1940), Norwegian physician and politician
• Bernhard Wessel (1936-2022), German football goalkeeper
• Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, American (Iowa) politician
• Birgit Wessel (1911–2000), Norwegian textile artist
• Caspar Wessel (1745–1818), Dano-Norwegian mathematician who was the first person to describe the complex numbers
• Christer Wessel (born 1943), Swedish curler
• David Wessel (born 1954), American journalist
• Dick Wessel (1913–1965), American film actor
• Ellisif Wessel (1866–1949), Norwegian writer, trade unionist and politician
• Franz Wessel (1903–1958), German judge
• Friedrich Wessel (born 1945), German fencer
• Hedvig Wessel (born 1995), Norwegian freestyle skier
• Helene Wessel (1898-1969), German politician
• Hendricus Wessel (1887–1977), Dutch long-distance runner
• Henry Wessel, Jr. (1942–2018), American photographer
• Horst Wessel (1907-1930), a Nazi brownshirt who was glorified as a martyr by the party in the Horst-Wessel-Lied
• Jessie Wessel (1894–1948), Swedish actress
• Johan Herman Wessel (1742–1785), Dano-Norwegian writer (brother of Caspar Wessel)
• Kai Wessel (countertenor) (born 1964), German countertenor
• Kathrin Weßel (born 1967), German long-distance runner
• Mark Wessel (1894–1973), American pianist and composer
• Mark Wessel, American educator
• Mike Wessel (born 1977), American mixed martial arts fighter
• Morris A. Wessel (1917–2016), American pediatrician
• Ole Christopher Wessel (1744–1794), Norwegian jurist and land surveyor
• Pål Wessel, Norwegian geophysicist
• Paul Wessel (1904-1967), East German politician
• Peter Wessel (1690-1720), also known as Tordenskjold, a Dano-Norwegian naval war hero
• Ulrich Wessel (1946 –1975), German member of the Red Army Faction
• Walter Wessel (1892 –1943), German Wehrmacht general
• Wilhelm Wessel, 17th-century German book publisher

See also

• Wessels, a (surname)