| Edmund Waller (1606–1687), English poet |
| Lewis Waller (1860–1915), English actor |
| Sir William Waller (c. 1597–1668), English soldier |
| John Wallis (1616–1703), English mathematician, logician and grammarian |
| Henri Wallon (1812–1904), French historian and statesman |
| Sir Henry Wallop (c. 1540–1599), English statesman |
| Sir John Wallop (c. 1490–1551), English soldier and diplomatist |
| Olaf Wallqvist (1755–1800), Swedish statesman and ecclesiastic |
| Thomas Attwood Walmisley (1814–1856), English musician |
| Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford (1717–1797), English politician and man of letters |
| Horatio, Baron Walpole (1678–1757), English diplomatist |
| Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford (1676–1745), Prime Minister of England |
| Sir Spencer Walpole (1839–1907), English historian and civil servant |
| Saint Walpurgis (c. 710–c. 780), English missionary to Germany |
| Léon Walras (1834–1910), French economist |
| John Henry Walsh (1810–1888), English writer on sport |
| Peter Walsh (c. 1618–1688), Irish politician and controversialist |
| Robert Walsh (1784–1859), American journalist and author |
| William Walsh (1663–1708), English poet and critic |
| William John Walsh (1841–1921), Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin |
| Sir Francis Walsingham (c. 1530–1590), English statesman |
| Thomas Walsingham (fl. 1360–1420), English chronicler |
| Thomas de Grey, 6th Baron Walsingham (1843–1919), English noble |
| Walter de Cantilupe (d. 1266), Bishop of Worcester |
| Walter of Coutances (1140–1207), Bishop of Lincoln and Archbishop of Rouen |
| Walter of Coventry (fl. 1290), English monk and chronicler |
| Walter of Hemingburgh (Fourteenth Century), Latin chronicler |
| John Walter (1738/9–1812), founder of The Times newspaper, London |
| Lucy Walter (1630?–1658), mistress of the English King Charles II. |
| Waltheof (d. 1076), Earl of Northumbria |
| Bernhard Walther (1430–1504), German astronomer |
| Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170–c. 1230), most celebrated of medieval German lyric poets |
| Brian Walton (1600–1661), English divine and scholar |
| George Walton (c. 1749–1804), signer of the Declaration of Independence and United States Senator |
| Izaak Walton (1593–1683), English writer |
| Sir William Walworth (d. 1385), Lord Mayor of London |
| John Wanamaker (1838–1922), American merchant |
| Christopher Wandesford (1592–1640), Lord Deputy of Ireland |
| Gustaaf Wappers (1803–1874), Belgian painter |
| Wāqidī (747/8–823), Arabian historian |
| Perkin Warbeck (1474–1499), Pretender to the throne of England |
| Paul Moritz Warburg (1868–1932), American banker |
| Eliot Warburton (1810–1852), British traveller and novelist |
| Sir Robert Warburton (1842–1899), Anglo-Indian soldier and administrator |
| William Warburton (1698–1779), English critic and divine, Bishop of Gloucester |
| Adolphus William Ward (1837–1924), English historian and man of letters |
| Artemas Ward (1727–1800), American soldier and jurist |
| Artemus Ward (Charles Farrar Browne) (1834–1867), American humorous writer |
| Edward Matthew Ward (1816–1879), English historical and genre painter |
| Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward (1844–1911), American author and philanthropist |
| Frederick Townsend Ward (1831–1862), American soldier of fortune |
| Geneviève Ward (1838–1922), English actress |
| James Ward (1769–1859), English animal painter and engraver |
| James Ward (1843–1925), English psychologist and metaphysician |
| John Quincy Adams Ward (1830–1910), American sculptor |
| Sir Joseph Ward (1856–1930), New Zealand statesman |
| Lester Frank Ward (1841–1913), American geologist and sociologist |
| Mary Augusta Ward (1851–1920), British novelist |
| Nathaniel Ward (1578–1653), English clergyman and author |
| Seth Ward (1617–1689), English Bishop |
| Wilfrid Ward (1856–1916), English man of letters |
| William Ward (1766–1826), English mezzotint-engraver |
| William George Ward (1812–1882), English Roman Catholic theologian |
| William Hayes Ward (1835–1916), American orientalist |
| Elizabeth, Lady Wardlaw (1677–1727), reputed author of Hardyknute |
| Henry Wardlaw (d. 1440), Scottish prelate |
| Henry Ware (1764–1845), American theologian |
| Earls Warenne |
| William Warham (c. 1450–1532), Archbishop of Canterbury |
| Charles Dudley Warner (1829–1900), American essayist and novelist |
| Olin Levi Warner (1844–1896), American sculptor |
| Seth Warner (1743–1784), American Revolutionary soldier |
| Susan Warner (1819–1885), American novelist |
| William Warner (1558?–1609), English poet |
| Gouverneur Kemble Warren (1830–1882), American soldier |
| Sir John Borlase Warren (1753–1822), English admiral |
| Joseph Warren (1741–1775), American politician |
| Mercy Otis Warren (1728–1814), American writer |
| Minton Warren (1850–1907), American classical scholar |
| Samuel Warren (1807–1877), English lawyer and author |
| Whitney Warren (1864–1943), American architect |
| William Warren (1812–1888), American actor |
| William Fairfield Warren (1833–1929), American educator |
| Archibald Johnston, Lord Warriston (1611–1663), Scottish judge and statesman |
| Joseph Warton (1722–1800), English critic and poet |
| Thomas Warton (c. 1688–1745), English author |
| Thomas Warton (1728–1790), English poet-laureate and historian of poetry |
| Earls of Warwick |
| Sir Philip Warwick (1609–1683), English writer and politician |
| Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (1428–1471), called “the king-maker” |
| Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick (1587–1658), colonial administrator and admiral |
| Cadwallader Colden Washburn (1818–1882), American soldier and politician |
| Elihu Benjamin Washburne (1816–1887), American statesman |
| Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), American negro teacher and reformer |
| Bushrod Washington (1762–1829), American jurist |
| George Washington (1732–1799), first President of the United States |
| Alfred Waterhouse (1830–1905), English architect |
| John William Waterhouse (1849–1917), English painter |
| Daniel Waterland (1683–1740), English theologian and author |
| Sir Ernest Albert Waterlow (1850–1919), English painter |
| Charles Waterton (1782–1865), English naturalist and traveller |
| Sir Edward William Watkin (1819–1901), English railway manager |
| John Watson (Ian Maclaren) (1850–1907), Scottish author and divine |
| Richard Watson (1737–1816), English divine |
| Thomas Watson (1555–1592), English lyrical poet |
| William Watson (c. 1559–1603), English conspirator |
| William Watson (1858–1935), English poet |
| James Watt (1736–1819), Scottish engineer |
| Antoine Watteau (1684–1721), French painter |
| Wilhelm Wattenbach (1819–1897), German historian |
| Henry Watterson (1840–1921), American journalist |
| Alaric Alexander Watts (1797–1864), English journalist and poet |
| George Frederick Watts (1817–1904), English painter and sculptor |
| Isaac Watts (1674–1748), English theologian and hymn-writer |
| Theodore Watts-Dunton (1832–1914), English man of letters |
| Benjamin Waugh (1839–1908), English social reformer |
| Edwin Waugh (1817–1890), known as “The Lancashire Poet” |
| Émile Wauters (1846–1933), Belgian painter |
| Jehan de Wavrin (fl. 1415–1471), French chronicler |
| Francis Wayland (1796–1865), American educationist |
| Anthony Wayne (1745–1796), American soldier |
| William Waynflete (1395?–1486), English Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Winchester |
| James Baird Weaver (1833–1912), American lawyer and political leader |
| Alexander Stewart Webb (1835–1911), American soldier |
| Sir Aston Webb (1849–1930), English architect |
| James Watson Webb (1802–1884), American journalist and diplomatist |
| Matthew Webb (1848–1883), English swimmer, generally known as “Captain Webb” |
| Sidney Webb (1859–1947), English socialist and author |
| William Webbe (c. 1550–1591), English literary critic |
| Charles Wilkins Webber (1819–1856), American journalist and frontiersman |
| Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826), German composer |
| Wilhelm Eduard Weber (1804–1891), German physicist |
| Alexander Webster (1707–1784), Scottish writer and minister |
| Benjamin Webster (1797–1882), English actor, manager and dramatic writer |
| Daniel Webster (1782–1852), American statesman |
| John Webster (c. 1580–1634), English dramatist |
| Noah Webster (1758–1843), American lexicographer and journalist |
| Thomas Webster (1773–1844), British geologist |
| Thomas Webster (1800–1886), English figure painter |
| Georg Rodolf Weckherlin (1584–1653), German poet |
| James (1495?–1533), John (1500?–1556) and Robert (c. 1510–c. 1557) Wedderburn, Scottish poets and religious reformers |
| Josiah Wedgwood (1730–1795), most distinguished of English manufacturers of pottery |
| Sir Frederick Wedmore (1844–1921), English art critic and man of letters |
| Thurlow Weed (1797–1882), American journalist and politician |
| William Babcock Weeden (1834–1912), American soldier, manufacturer and author |
| Edwin Lord Weeks (1849–1903), American artist |
| John Wingate Weeks (1860–1926), American public official |
| Mason Locke Weems (1759–1825), American biographical writer and historian |
| Jan Baptist Weenix (1621–1659), Dutch painter |
| John Weever (1576–1632), English poet and antiquary |
| Julius August Ludwig Wegscheider (1771–1849), German theologian |
| Revere Franklin Weidner (1851–1915), American theologian |
| Robert Walter Weir (1803–1889), American portrait and historical painter |
| August Weismann (1834–1914), German biologist |
| Bernhard Weiss (1827–1918), German Protestant New Testament scholar |
| Christian Hermann Weisse (1801–1866), German Protestant religious philosopher |
| Karl Weizsäcker (1822–1899), German Protestant theologian |
| Sándor Wekerle (1848–1921), Hungarian statesman |
| Amelia B. Welby (1819–1852), American poet |
| Friedrich Gottlieb Welcker (1784–1868), German philologist and archæologist |
| Theodore Dwight Weld (1803–1895), American abolitionist |
| Welf, princely family of Germany |
| Johan Sebastian Cammermeyer Welhaven (1807–1873), Norwegian poet and critic |
| Gideon Welles (1802–1878), American political leader |
| Richard, Marquess Wellesley (1760–1842), British politician |
| Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918), German biblical scholar and orientalist |
| Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (1769–1852), British soldier and statesman |
| Charles Wells (1799?–1879), English poet |
| David Ames Wells (1828–1898), American economist |
| H. G. Wells (1866–1946), English novelist |
| Sir Thomas Spencer Wells (1818–1897), English surgeon |
| Welser, name of a famous family of German merchants |
| John Welsh (1805–1886), American merchant and philanthropist |
| Earls of Wemyss |
| Wenceslas (1361–1419), German King |
| Hans Hinrich Wendt (1853–1928), German Protestant theologian |
| Gunnar Wennerberg (1817–1901), Swedish poet, musician and politician |
| James Parke, Baron Wensleydale (1782–1868), English judge |
| Wentworth, name of an English family distinguished in parliamentary history |
| Benning Wentworth (1696–1770), Royalist governor of New Hampshire |
| John Wentworth (1737–1820), last Royalist governor of New Hampshire |
| William Charles Wentworth (1790–1872), the “Australian patriot” |
| István Werbőczi (1458?–1541), Hungarian jurist and statesman |
| Karl August von Werder (1808–1887), Prussian general |
| Henrik Wergeland (1808–1845), Norwegian poet and prose writer |
| Wermund, ancestor of the Mercian royal family |
| Abraham Gottlob Werner (1750–1817), father of German geology |
| Anton von Werner (1843–1915), German painter |
| Friedrich Ludwig Zacharias Werner (1768–1823), German poet, dramatist and preacher |
| Sir Julius Charles Wernher (1850–1912), British South African financier |
| Johann von Werth (c. 1595–1652), German general of cavalry in the Thirty Years’ War |
| Wesley, English family |
| John Wesley (1703–1791), English divine |
| Samuel Wesley (1766–1837), English musical composer |
| Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810–1876), English composer and organist |
| Johann Wessel (c. 1420–1489), Dutch theologian |
| Miklós Wesselényi (1796–1850), Hungarian statesman |
| Benjamin West (1738–1820), English historical and portrait-painter |
| Gilbert West (1703–1756), English divine and author |
| Nicholas West (1461–1533), English Bishop and diplomatist |
| Richard Westall (1765–1836), English subject painter |
| Richard Bethell, Baron Westbury (1800–1873), Lord Chancellor of Great Britain |
| Brooke Foss Westcott (1825–1901), English divine and Bishop of Durham |
| François Joseph Westermann (1751?–1794), French general |
| George Westinghouse (1846–1914), American inventor and manufacturer |
| Sir Richard Westmacott (1775–1856), British sculptor |
| Earl of Westmeath |
| Marquesses and Dukes of Westminster |
| Earls of Westmorland |
| Thomas Weston (1737–1776), English actor |
| Rudolf Westphal (1826–1892), German classical scholar |
| Wettin, name of a family from which several of the royal houses of Europe have sprung |
| Johann Jakob Wettstein (1693–1754), New Testament critic |
| Rogier van der Weyden (1399/1400–1464), Flemish painter |
| Valeriá Weyler (1838–1930), Spanish soldier |
| Stanley John Weyman (1855–1928), English novelist |
| Edward Whalley (c. 1615–c. 1675), English regicide |
| James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, Baron Wharncliffe (1776–1845), English statesman |
| Wharton, old north of England family |
| Edith Wharton (1862–1937), American writer |
| Francis Wharton (1820–1889), American legal writer and educationalist |
| Henry Wharton (1664–1695), English writer |
| Richard Whately (1787–1863), English logician and theological writer, Archbishop of Dublin |
| Francis Wheatley (1747–1801), English portrait and landscape painter |
| Henry Benjamin Wheatley (1838–1917), English philologist and bibliographer |
| Frank Wheaton (1833–1903), American soldier |
| Henry Wheaton (1785–1848), American lawyer and diplomatist |
| Sir Charles Wheatstone (1802–1875), English physicist and the practical founder of modern telegraphy |
| Benjamin Ide Wheeler (1854–1927), American philologist |
| George Montague Wheeler (1842–1905), American soldier |
| Joseph Wheeler (1836–1906), American soldier |
| William Almon Wheeler (1819–1887), Vice-president of the United States |
| Eleazar Wheelock (1711–1779), American educator |
| John Wheelwright (c. 1592–1679), English clergyman |
| John Whethamstede (d. 1465), English abbot |
| George Whetstone (1544?–1587?), English dramatist and author |
| William Whewell (1794–1866), British philosopher and historian of science |
| Benjamin Whichcote (1609–1683), English divine and philosopher |
| Edwin Percy Whipple (1819–1886), American author |
| William Whipple (1730–1785), signer of the Declaration of Independence |
| James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), American artist |
| William Whiston (1667–1752), English divine and mathematician |
| Joseph Whitaker (1820–1895), English publisher |
| Samuel Whitbread (1758–1815), English politician |
| Andrew Dickson White (1832–1918), American educationist |
| Edward Douglass White (1845–1921), American jurist |
| Sir George White (1835–1912), British field marshal |
| Gilbert White (1720–1793), English writer on natural history |
| Henry Kirke White (1785–1806), English poet |
| Joseph Blanco White (1775–1841), British theologian and poet |
| Richard Grant White (1822–1885), American Shakespearean scholar, philologist and essayist |
| Robert White (1645–1703), English engraver and draughtsman |
| Sir Thomas White (1492–1567), founder of St. John’s College, Oxford |
| Thomas White (c. 1550–1624), English divine |
| Thomas White (1628–1698), Bishop of Peterborough |
| Sir William Arthur White (1824–1891), British diplomatist |
| William Hale White (1831–1913), English author |
| Sir William Henry White (1845–1913), English naval architect |
| Joseph Frederick Whiteaves (1835–1909), British palæontologist |
| George Whitefield (1714–1770), English religious leader |
| William Whitehead (1715–1785), English poet-laureate |
| Richard Whiteing (1840–1928), English author and journalist |
| William Whiteley (1831–1907), English “Universal Provider” |
| Bulstrode Whitelocke (1605–1675), English lawyer and parliamentarian |
| Sir James Whitelocke (1570–1632), English judge |
| James Whiteside (1804–1876), Irish judge |
| John Whitgift (c. 1530–1604), English Archbishop |
| Brand Whitlock (1869–1934), American diplomat and writer |
| Marcus Whitman (1802–1847), American missionary and pioneer |
| Sarah Helen Power Whitman (1803–1878), American poet |
| Walt Whitman (1819–1892), American poet |
| Adeline Dutton Train Whitney (1824–1906), American authoress |
| Asa Whitney (1791–1874), American manufacturer |
| Eli Whitney (1765–1825), American inventor |
| Josiah Dwight Whitney (1819–1896), American geologist |
| William Collins Whitney (1841–1904), American political leader and financier |
| William Dwight Whitney (1827–1894), American philologist |
| Thomas Whittemore (1800–1861), American editor and author |
| John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892), America’s “Quaker poet” of freedom, faith and the sentiment of the common people |
| Charles Whittingham (1767–1840), English printer |
| William Whittingham (c. 1524–1579), English scholar |
| Richard Whittington (d. 1423), Mayor of London |
| William Whittlesey (d. 1374), Archbishop of Canterbury |
| Sir Joseph Whitworth (1803–1887), English engineer |
| Edward Whymper (1840–1911), British artist, explorer and mountaineer |
| Alexander Whyte (1836–1921), Scottish divine |
| George John Whyte-Melville (1821–1878), Scottish novelist |
| Jörg Wickram (c. 1505–c. 1560), German poet and novelist |
| Barons Widdrington |
| Charles-Marie Widor (1844–1937), French composer and organist |
| Widukind (d. c. 1004), Saxon historian, the author of Res gestae Saxonicae |
| Friedrich Wieck (1785–1873), German pianoforte teacher |
| Gustav Heinrich Wiedemann (1826–1899), German physicist |
| Christoph Martin Wieland (1733–1813), German poet and man of letters |
| Aleksander Wielopolski (1803–1877), Polish statesman |
| Henri Wieniawski (1835–1880), Polish violinist and composer |
| Wilhelm Wieprecht (1802–1872), German musical conductor, composer and inventor |
| Antoine Joseph Wiertz (1806–1865), Flemish painter |
| Benjamin Barron Wiffen (1794–1867), English editor |
| Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin (1856–1923), American novelist |
| Michael Wigglesworth (1631–1705), American clergyman and poet |
| Orlando Williams Wight (1824–1888), American author |
| Wihtred (d. 725), King of Kent |
| Robert Isaac Wilberforce (1802–1857), English clergyman and writer |
| Samuel Wilberforce (1805–1873), English Bishop |
| William Wilberforce (1759–1833), English philanthropist whose name is chiefly associated with the abolition of the slave trade |
| Adolf Wilbrandt (1837–1911), German novelist and dramatist |
| John Wilbye (1574–1638), English madrigal composer |
| Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox (1824–1890), American soldier |
| Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919), American writer |
| Jonathan Wild (c. 1682–1725), English criminal |
| Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), English author |
| Richard Henry Wilde (1789–1847), Italian student and jurist |
| Ernst von Wildenbruch (1845–1909), German poet and dramatist |
| Sir John Wildman (c. 1621–1693), English agitator |
| Irving Ramsay Wiles (1861–1948), American artist |
| Harvey Washington Wiley (1844–1930), American chemist |
| Wilfrid (c. 634–709), English Archbishop |
| Wilhelm I. (1797–1888), King of Prussia and German Emperor |
| Wilhelm II. (1859–1941), King of Prussia and German Emperor |
| Wilhelmina (1880–1962), Queen of the Netherlands |
| Wilhelmine von Bayreuth (1709–1758), Margravine of Baireuth |
| Charles Wilkes (1798–1877), American naval officer and explorer |
| John Wilkes (1727–1797), English politician |
| Sir David Wilkie (1785–1841), Scottish painter |
| William Wilkie (1721–1772), author of a heroic poem called the Epigoniad |
| Charles Wilkins (c. 1749–1836), English orientalist |
| George Wilkins (fl. 1607), English playwright and pamphleteer |
| John Wilkins (1614–1672), Bishop of Chester |
| James Wilkinson (1757–1825), American soldier and adventurer |
| James John Garth Wilkinson (1812–1899), Swedenborgian writer |
| John Wilkinson (1728–1808), “The great Staffordshire iron-master” |
| John Gardner Wilkinson (1797–1875), English traveller and Egyptologist |
| Tate Wilkinson (1739–1803), English actor and manager
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