Viliami
Samoan form of the name William, derived from Germanic elements meaning "will" and "helmet".
Name Census estimates that about 534 living Americans carry the first name Viliami. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Viliami today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Viliami births was 2010 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Viliami. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
534
~ 1 in 641,862 Americans
Peak year
2010
21 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,903
Tracked since 1980
Census
Viliami in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 556 people with the first name Viliami, which placed it at #19,177 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#19,177
National first-name rank
People counted
556
556 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
84.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Viliami
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Viliami is Asian/Pacific Islander at 84.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.5%) and Hispanic (2.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Viliami described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Viliami at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander84.4% · 469
- Two or more races9.5% · 53
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 16
- White2.7% · 15
- Black or African American0.5% · 3
Popularity
Viliami: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Viliami from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 155 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Viliami remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Viliami by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Viliami during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Viliamis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Utah, Hawaii recorded the most babies named Viliami, while Hawaii, Utah, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 70 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Viliami
The name Viliami has its origins in the Polynesian language of Tonga, which is spoken in the island nation of Tonga in the South Pacific. It is the Tongan form of the English name William, which itself has Germanic roots and means "resolute protector" or "protection." Viliami is a combination of two words in the Tongan language: vili, meaning "will" or "desire," and ami, meaning "protector" or "guardian."
In Tonga, the name Viliami has been in use for centuries and has been borne by many notable figures throughout the country's history. One of the earliest recorded examples is Viliami Tungī Halatuituia, who was the 23rd Tuʻi Tonga (paramount chief) of the Tongan Empire and reigned from around 1470 to 1490.
Another historical figure with this name was Viliami Latu Vaipuna, a Tongan noble and military leader who played a crucial role in the Tongan Civil War of the late 18th century. He fought alongside the forces of Tāufaʻāhau, who later became King George Tupou I, the first monarch of the united Kingdom of Tonga.
In more recent history, Viliami Tʻu'ivanuavou Vāvā was a Tongan noble and politician who served as the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga from 1975 to 1979. He was born in 1912 and passed away in 1995.
One of the most famous bearers of the name Viliami in modern times was Viliami Fukofuka, a Tongan rugby union player who played as a prop for the Tongan national team in the 1990s and early 2000s. He was born in 1970 and represented Tonga in the 1995, 1999, and 2003 Rugby World Cups.
Another notable figure was Viliami Tungī Mailefihi, a Tongan politician and diplomat who served as the Prime Minister of Tonga from 1991 to 2006. He was born in 1938 and played a significant role in Tonga's transition to a more democratic form of government.
While the name Viliami is most commonly associated with Tonga, it has also been adopted and used in other Polynesian cultures, particularly in Samoa and Fiji. However, its origins and deepest roots can be traced back to the Tongan language and culture, where it has held a significant place for centuries.
People
Viliami + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Viliami as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with V
Other first names starting with V with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Viliami: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Viliami?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 534 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Viliami going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 641,862 US residents.
Is Viliami a common name?
We classify Viliami as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 543 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Viliami most popular?
The single biggest year for Viliami was 2010, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Viliami is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Viliami in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 556 people with the name Viliami, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,177 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Viliami in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Viliami?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Viliami appears almost entirely male. Of the 557 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Viliami?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Viliami is Asian/Pacific Islander at 84.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.5%) and Hispanic (2.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Viliami most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Viliami in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.4% (469 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Viliami in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Viliami a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Viliami in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Viliami still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Viliami in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Viliami can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Viliami?
See how many people share the name Viliami on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.