Wilmot
A masculine given name of Germanic origin meaning "resolute protector".
Name Census estimates that about 89 living Americans carry the first name Wilmot. It is a predominantly male name (98.9% of registrations). The average person named Wilmot today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wilmot births was 1916 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wilmot. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Wilmot is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Wilmots were born before 1960.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Wilmot. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
89
~ 1 in 3,851,172 Americans
Peak year
1916
27 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1993 SSA rank
#5,300
Tracked since 1906
Census
Wilmot in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 288 people with the first name Wilmot, which placed it at #30,313 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
#30,313
National first-name rank
People counted
288
288 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wilmot
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wilmot is White at 46.9%. The next largest groups are Black (46.2%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). 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 Wilmot 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 Wilmot at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.9% · 135
- Black or African American46.2% · 133
- Two or more races3.5% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Wilmot
Wilmot leans heavily male at 98.9% of total registrations, but 5 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Wilmot as a male name
- Ranked #10,116 in 1993
- 5 male births in 1993
- Peak: 1916 (27 births)
Wilmot as a female name
- Ranked #5,300 in 1917
- 5 female births in 1917
- Peak: 1917 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wilmot leans strongly male. 277 people counted with this name were male (96.2%), compared with 11 female bearers (3.8%).
Popularity
Wilmot: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wilmot from the 1900s through to the 1990s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 146 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wilmot 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 Wilmot during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wilmots live
Origin
Meaning and history of Wilmot
The name Wilmot is of Anglo-Norman origin, derived from the Old French name "Willemet" or "Wilemet," which itself is a diminutive form of the Germanic name "Wilhelm" or "William." The name "Wilhelm" is composed of two elements: "wil," meaning "will" or "desire," and "helm," meaning "helmet" or "protection." Thus, the name Wilmot essentially means "little William" or "resolute protector."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wilmot can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as "Willemot." This suggests that the name was brought to England by Norman settlers after the Norman Conquest in 1066.
In the 12th century, the name Wilmot appeared in the writings of Gerald of Wales, a renowned cleric and historian. He mentioned a knight named Wilmot de Traci, who was implicated in the murder of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1170.
One of the most notable historical figures bearing the name Wilmot was John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1647-1680), an English poet and courtier during the Restoration period. He was known for his satirical and often bawdy poetry, as well as his rakish lifestyle.
Another prominent individual with the name Wilmot was Sir John Eardley Wilmot (1709-1792), an English judge and Chief Justice of the Common Pleas from 1766 to 1792. He made significant contributions to the development of English common law.
In the United States, Wilmot Proviso (1846) was a famous piece of legislation proposed by David Wilmot, a U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania. The Proviso aimed to ban slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico during the Mexican-American War.
Other notable figures with the name Wilmot include Wilmot Robertson (1915-2005), an American author and white nationalist; Wilmot Brookings (1850-1932), a Canadian politician and businessman; and Wilmot Horton (1773-1843), an English politician and colonial administrator.
Overall, the name Wilmot has a rich history spanning several centuries and has been borne by notable figures in various fields, including literature, law, politics, and business.
People
Wilmot + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wilmot 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
Wilmot: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wilmot?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 89 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wilmot 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 3,851,172 US residents.
Is Wilmot a common name?
We classify Wilmot as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 459 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wilmot most popular?
The single biggest year for Wilmot was 1916, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wilmot is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wilmot in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 288 people with the name Wilmot, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,313 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 Wilmot 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 Wilmot?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wilmot leans strongly male. 277 people counted with this name were male (96.2%), compared with 11 female bearers (3.8%). 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 Wilmot?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wilmot is White at 46.9%. The next largest groups are Black (46.2%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). 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 Wilmot most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Wilmot in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.9% (135 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 Wilmot in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wilmot a male name?
Yes, 98.9% of people registered as Wilmot 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 Wilmot still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wilmot 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 Wilmot 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 share the name Wilmot?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.