Wessel (name)
# 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 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
* 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
