Willie
Willie is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 137 births. Its best rank was 11th, in 1910.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 1370.01% of boys
- Peak year
- 19477,995 births
- Best rank
- #11in 1910
- Since 1880
- 596,221people given the name
The story in the numbers
450,033 boys have been named Willie in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1947, with 7,995 births — 0.44% of all boys recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 137 births in 2024, against 7,995 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1942, and the 1940s alone account for 16%. It has spent 140 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 89 of them in the top 100.
Willie is used for both sexes: 25% of its bearers are girls (146,188), most of them born around 1919.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Willie | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 5,906 | |
| 1890s | 9,849 | |
| 1900s | 17,746 | |
| 1910s | 47,690 | |
| 1920s | 67,993 | |
| 1930s | 62,467 | |
| 1940s | 72,419 | |
| 1950s | 66,461 | |
| 1960s | 39,811 | |
| 1970s | 23,967 | |
| 1980s | 16,892 | |
| 1990s | 9,715 | |
| 2000s | 5,155 | |
| 2010s | 3,129 | |
| 2020s | 833 |
In 1947, its biggest year
Willie was the 42nd most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1947 were James, Robert, John, William and Richard. See all of 1947.
Names that rose and fell with Willie
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Othapeak 1920
- Otispeak 1920
- Haywoodpeak 1919
- Earnestpeak 1926
- Obiepeak 1924
- Sylvesterpeak 1920
- Garnettpeak 1920
- Benniepeak 1929
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.