Wilkin
A masculine name derived from the English surname meaning "son of William".
Name Census estimates that about 109 living Americans carry the first name Wilkin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wilkin today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wilkin births was 2020 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wilkin. 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
109
~ 1 in 3,144,535 Americans
Peak year
2020
10 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2023 SSA rank
#14,074
Tracked since 1922
Census
Wilkin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 447 people with the first name Wilkin, which placed it at #22,320 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
#22,320
National first-name rank
People counted
447
447 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
77.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wilkin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wilkin is Hispanic at 77.0%. The next largest groups are White (11.0%) and Black (6.0%). 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 Wilkin 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 Wilkin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino77.0% · 344
- White11.0% · 49
- Black or African American6.0% · 27
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.8% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Wilkin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wilkin from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 27 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wilkin 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 Wilkin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wilkin
Wilkin is an English given name derived from the Old English words "wil" meaning "will" or "desire" and "cyn" meaning "kin" or "family". It originated in the Anglo-Saxon period, around the 5th to 11th centuries AD, when Old English was the language spoken in what is now England.
The name Wilkin likely emerged as a descriptive name, referring to someone who had a strong will or desire within their family or community. It may have also been used as a nickname or diminutive form of longer names like Wilcombe or Wilkinson.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wilkin can be found in the Domesday Book, a great survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as "Wilchin" in this historical record.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Wilkin remained in use, though it was not as common as some other English names. One notable bearer of the name was Wilkin de Wakefield, an English poet and chronicler who lived in the 13th century.
In the 16th century, a variation of the name, "Wilkie", gained some popularity in Scotland. This was likely due to the influence of the Flemish immigrants who settled in Scotland during this period and brought with them similar names.
One of the most famous bearers of the name Wilkin was Wilkin of Bassevelde, a Flemish leader and statesman who played a key role in the Flemish uprising against the French in the late 13th century (c. 1245-1312).
Another notable figure was Wilkin van de Velde, a Dutch painter and draughtsman who was active in the early 17th century (c. 1592-1642). He is renowned for his marine paintings and drawings.
In the 19th century, the name Wilkin was borne by Wilkin Updike, an American printer and typographer who is regarded as one of the greatest book designers of his time (1860-1941).
Finally, Wilkin Brumleve was a German-American architect and engineer who designed several notable buildings in St. Louis, Missouri, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (1868-1952).
While not as widely used as some other English names, Wilkin has a long and interesting history, with bearers of the name making contributions in various fields throughout the centuries.
People
Wilkin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wilkin 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
Wilkin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wilkin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 109 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wilkin 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 3,144,535 US residents.
Is Wilkin a common name?
We classify Wilkin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 122 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wilkin most popular?
The single biggest year for Wilkin was 2020, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wilkin is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wilkin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 447 people with the name Wilkin, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,320 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 Wilkin 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 Wilkin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wilkin appears almost entirely male. Of the 448 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Wilkin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wilkin is Hispanic at 77.0%. The next largest groups are White (11.0%) and Black (6.0%). 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 Wilkin most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Wilkin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.0% (344 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 Wilkin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wilkin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wilkin 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 Wilkin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wilkin 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 Wilkin 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 Americans are named Wilkin?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.