Wil
Of Old German origin, meaning "will" or "desire".
Name Census estimates that about 1,059 living Americans carry the first name Wil. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wil today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wil births was 2005 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wil. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Wil with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 323,658 Americans
Peak year
2005
48 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,818
Tracked since 1953
Census
Wil in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,131 people with the first name Wil, which placed it at #7,228 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
#7,228
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,131 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wil
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wil is White at 60.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.9%) and Black (11.0%). 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 Wil 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 Wil at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.4% · 1,288
- Hispanic or Latino18.9% · 403
- Black or African American11.0% · 235
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 98
- Two or more races3.9% · 84
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 23
Popularity
Wil: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wil from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 358 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wil 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 Wil during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wils live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Ohio, Texas recorded the most babies named Wil, while Texas, Ohio, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wil
The name Wil has its origins in the Germanic languages, tracing back to the Old High German name Willehelm, which was a compound of two elements: "wil" meaning "will" or "desire," and "helm" meaning "helmet" or "protection." This name eventually gave rise to the English form William, from which Wil is a modern diminutive or shortened version.
In the early Middle Ages, the name Willehelm was relatively popular among the Germanic tribes, particularly the Franks and the Saxons. It gained wider recognition and usage after Charlemagne's grandson, William I, Count of Blois, became a prominent figure in the 9th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wil can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a collection of annals dating back to the late 9th century. The chronicle mentions a certain "Wil" who was involved in a battle against the Danes in the year 851.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Wil. One of the most famous was Wil Camillus, a Roman general and statesman who lived from circa 446 to 365 BC. He was instrumental in the defense of Rome against the Gauls and is celebrated for his military strategies and leadership.
In the realm of literature, Wil Shakespeare, an English poet and playwright born in 1564, is renowned for his timeless works, including Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth. His influence on the English language and Western literature is immeasurable.
During the Middle Ages, Wil the Conqueror, also known as William I of England, was a pivotal figure in European history. Born in 1028, he was the first Norman king of England, having conquered the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings.
In the field of science, Wil Herschel, a German-born British astronomer (1738-1822), made significant contributions to the study of the cosmos. He is credited with discovering the planet Uranus and identifying several moons of Saturn and deep-sky objects.
Another notable figure was Wil Wallace, a Scottish knight and leader during the Wars of Scottish Independence in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. His defiance against English rule and his leadership at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297 have made him a national hero in Scotland.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Wil
People
Wil + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wil as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Wil: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wil?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,059 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wil 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 323,658 US residents.
Is Wil a common name?
We classify Wil as "Rare". It ranks above 90.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,089 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wil most popular?
The single biggest year for Wil was 2005, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wil is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wil in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,131 people with the name Wil, or 0.71 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,228 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 Wil 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 Wil?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wil leans strongly male. 2,089 people counted with this name were male (98.2%), compared with 39 female bearers (1.8%). 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 Wil?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wil is White at 60.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.9%) and Black (11.0%). 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 Wil most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Wil in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.4% (1,288 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 Wil in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wil a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wil 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 Wil still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wil 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 Wil 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 Wil?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.