Will
Will is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 153 births. Its best rank was 25th, in 1882.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 1530.01% of boys
- Peak year
- 1888707 births
- Best rank
- #25in 1882
- Since 1880
- 45,781people given the name
The story in the numbers
45,781 boys have been named Will in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1888, with 707 births — 0.59% of all boys recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 153 births in 2024, against 707 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1936, and the 1880s alone account for 14%. It has spent 141 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 30 of them in the top 100.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Will | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 6,196 | |
| 1890s | 5,210 | |
| 1900s | 3,246 | |
| 1910s | 3,162 | |
| 1920s | 3,423 | |
| 1930s | 2,402 | |
| 1940s | 2,162 | |
| 1950s | 1,998 | |
| 1960s | 2,101 | |
| 1970s | 2,232 | |
| 1980s | 2,349 | |
| 1990s | 2,927 | |
| 2000s | 4,446 | |
| 2010s | 2,978 | |
| 2020s | 949 |
In 1888, its biggest year
Will was the 28th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1888 were John, William, James, George and Charles. See all of 1888.
Names that rose and fell with Will
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Edpeak 1959
- Greenpeak 1927
- Lempeak 1917
- Gustpeak 1923
- Ligepeak 1915
- Pinkpeak 1919
- Rollapeak 1916
- Charleypeak 1920
Other spellings in the data
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.