Wessel

Wessel is a diminutive of the given name Werner of Frisian, German, and Dutch origin.^[1] It is now more common as a patronymic surname. People with this name include:

Given name

• 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 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 van Diepen (born 1966), Dutch radio host

Surname

• Andreas Wessel (1858–1940), Norwegian physician and politician
• Bernhard Wessel (born 1936), German football goalkeeper
• Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, American (Iowa) politician
• Caspar Wessel (1745–1818), Dano-Norwegian mathematician who was the first person to describe the complex numbers (brother of Johan Herman Wessel)
• 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
• Hendricus Wessel (1887–1977), Dutch long-distance runner
• Henry Wessel, Jr. (born 1942), American photographer
• Horst Wessel (1907-1930), a Nazi brownshirt who was glorified as a martyr by the party in the Horst-Wessel-Lied
• Johan Herman Wessel (1742–1785), Dano-Norwegian writer (brother of Caspar Wessel)
• Kai Wessel (born 1964), German countertenor
• Kathrin Weßel (born 1967), German long-distance runner
• Kin Wessel (born 1964), Norwegian illustrator
• Mark Wessel (1894–1973), American pianist and composer
• Mark Wessel, American educator
• Michael R. Wessel (born c. 1959), American businessman and lobbyist
• Mike Wessel (born 1977), American mixed martial arts fighter
• Morris A. Wessel (born 1917), 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

Place names

• The Wessel Islands, a group of islands forming part of the Northern Territory, Australia, named after the Dutch ship Wesel in 1636.
  • Cape Wessel, the most northerly point of Rimbija Island (itself the northernmost of the Wessel Islands)
• Wessels plass, a square in Oslo, Norway, named after Johan Herman Wessel

See also

• Wessels (surname)

References