title: Wessel (name)
text: # 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
  