Wylie
A diminutive form of the Old English name "Wilhylm" meaning "resolute protection".
Name Census estimates that about 4,495 living Americans carry the first name Wylie. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Wylie today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wylie births was 2024 (225 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wylie. 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 Wylie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.5K
~ 1 in 76,252 Americans
Peak year
2024
225 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,234
Tracked since 1880
Census
Wylie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,483 people with the first name Wylie, which placed it at #5,060 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
#5,060
National first-name rank
People counted
3.5K
3,483 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wylie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wylie is White at 80.0%. The next largest groups are Black (7.9%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). 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 Wylie 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 Wylie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.0% · 2,788
- Black or African American7.9% · 274
- Two or more races4.4% · 154
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 130
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 79
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 58
Gender
Gender distribution for Wylie
Wylie leans heavily male at 89.0% of total registrations, but 726 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Wylie as a male name
- Ranked #1,234 in 2024
- 162 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (162 births)
Wylie as a female name
- Ranked #2,737 in 2024
- 63 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (63 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wylie leans strongly male. 2,942 people counted with this name were male (84.5%), compared with 541 female bearers (15.5%).
Popularity
Wylie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wylie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,126 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Wylie remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wylie 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 Wylie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wylies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. Texas, South Carolina, California recorded the most babies named Wylie, while West Virginia, Virginia, Utah recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 71 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wylie
The name Wylie is a variant of the English surname Wiley, which derives from the Old English word "wil" meaning "wiliness" or "cunning." The name is believed to have originated in the late 11th century, around the time of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.
Wylie was initially used as a descriptive surname, referring to someone who was perceived as clever, cunning, or shrewd. Over time, it transitioned into a given name, particularly in Scotland and Northern England.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wylie can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, a record of landowners and estates commissioned by William the Conqueror. The name appears as "Willelmus Wili," indicating its use as a surname at that time.
In the 12th century, a Scottish literary work known as "The Brus" by John Barbour mentions a character named "Wylie Laird of Lochy," suggesting the name's prevalence in Scotland during the Middle Ages.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Wylie. One of the earliest was Wylie Bressant (c. 1260 - unknown), a Scottish knight and landowner who was a supporter of Robert the Bruce during the Wars of Scottish Independence.
In the 16th century, Wylie Houstaun (c. 1510 - 1572) was a Scottish clergyman and reformer who played a significant role in the Scottish Reformation.
During the 18th century, Wylie Macfeyth (c. 1720 - 1790) was a Scottish Gaelic poet and bard known for his compositions celebrating the Jacobite cause.
In the 19th century, Wylie Grier (1833 - 1902) was an American Presbyterian minister and educator who served as the president of Biddle University (now Johnson C. Smith University) in North Carolina.
More recently, Wylie Dufresne (born 1970) is an American chef and restaurateur known for his innovative approach to molecular gastronomy and his contributions to the New York City culinary scene.
People
Wylie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wylie 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
Wylie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wylie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,495 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wylie 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 76,252 US residents.
Is Wylie a common name?
We classify Wylie as "Rare". It ranks above 96.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,622 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wylie most popular?
The single biggest year for Wylie was 2024, when 225 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wylie is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wylie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,483 people with the name Wylie, or 1.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,060 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 Wylie 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 Wylie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wylie leans strongly male. 2,942 people counted with this name were male (84.5%), compared with 541 female bearers (15.5%). 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 Wylie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wylie is White at 80.0%. The next largest groups are Black (7.9%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). 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 Wylie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Wylie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.0% (2,788 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 Wylie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wylie a male name?
Yes, 89.0% of people registered as Wylie 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 Wylie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wylie 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 Wylie 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 Wylie?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.