Willebrord

Willebrord is a Dutch masculine given name. It has been used in the Netherlands and by Dutch-speaking communities. The form Willebrord has historical variants in older records, and in Latinized or variant spellings such as Willibrord in some sources.

Willebrord Snellius (1580–1626), also known as Willebrord Snel van Roijen, was a Dutch mathematician and physicist. He is best known for formulating Snell's law of refraction in optics, which describes the relationship between the angles of incidence and refraction when light passes between media with different refractive indices. Snellius also contributed to early trigonometry and the use of geometric methods in surveying and astronomy, helping lay groundwork for later developments in optics and geometry. The name remains relatively uncommon today outside Dutch contexts.