Mount Wilhelm received its name in 1888 when a German newspaper correspondent, Hugo Zöller, climbed the Finisterre Range, south-east of Madang, and named the Bismarck Range after the German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, and the four highest peaks of the range after him and his children: Ottoberg, Herbert-berg, Marienberg and Wilhelm-berg. Otto-berg seemed to Zöller to be the highest of the range, but it was later discovered to be only and the distant Wilhelmberg was much taller.