Willliam
A masculine given name of Germanic origin meaning "resolute protection".
Name Census estimates that about 245 living Americans carry the first name Willliam. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Willliam today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Willliam births was 2006 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Willliam. 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 Willliam with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
245
~ 1 in 1,398,997 Americans
Peak year
2006
12 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2021 SSA rank
#12,061
Tracked since 1922
Census
Willliam in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,397 people with the first name Willliam, which placed it at #9,799 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
#9,799
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,397 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Willliam
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Willliam is White at 83.8%. The next largest groups are Black (7.7%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Willliam 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 Willliam at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.8% · 1,170
- Black or African American7.7% · 107
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 72
- Two or more races1.9% · 26
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 9
Popularity
Willliam: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Willliam from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 65 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
Willliam 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 Willliam 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 Willliam
The name William has its origins in the Germanic language, derived from the elements "wil" meaning desire or will, and "helm" meaning helmet or protection. It first appeared in the 8th century as "Willihelm" and later evolved into the modern English form of "William."
In the early Middle Ages, the name gained popularity across Europe, particularly in England and France. One of the earliest records of the name can be found in the Domesday Book, a medieval census commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086.
The name William has a strong historical significance, with several notable figures bearing this name. One of the most famous was William the Conqueror (c. 1028-1087), the Norman ruler who invaded and conquered England in 1066, becoming the first Norman king of England.
Another influential William was William Shakespeare (1564-1616), the renowned English playwright and poet, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. His works, including plays like "Hamlet," "Macbeth," and "Romeo and Juliet," have had a profound impact on literature and the English language.
In the realm of science, William Herschel (1738-1822) was a German-born British astronomer who discovered the planet Uranus and made significant contributions to the study of the universe.
The name also has religious connections, with William of Ockham (c. 1285-1347), an English Franciscan friar and philosopher, known for his principle of parsimony, often referred to as "Occam's Razor."
During the American Revolution, William Wilberforce (1759-1833) was a British politician and philanthropist who played a crucial role in the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals named William throughout history, showcasing the name's enduring popularity and significance across various fields and cultures.
People
Willliam + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Willliam 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
Willliam: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Willliam?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 245 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Willliam 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 1,398,997 US residents.
Is Willliam a common name?
We classify Willliam as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 266 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Willliam most popular?
The single biggest year for Willliam was 2006, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Willliam is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Willliam in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,397 people with the name Willliam, or 0.46 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,799 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 Willliam 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 Willliam?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Willliam appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,396 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Willliam?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Willliam is White at 83.8%. The next largest groups are Black (7.7%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Willliam most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Willliam in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.8% (1,170 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 Willliam in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Willliam a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Willliam 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 Willliam still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Willliam 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 Willliam 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 are called Willliam?
Want to know how many people have the name Willliam? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.