Wali
Wali was given to 56 boys in 2025, #2,448 among boys’ names; 1,248 Americans have been recorded with it since 1951 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,210 Americans named Wali and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 16 years old and half are between 7 and 39.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Wali by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Wali?
#2,448 among boys’ names, 2025
Wali rose from #3,018 in 2015 to #2,448 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 20.3 to 32.8 per million.
65 babies in 2016, the peak
Wali peaked in 2016, when 65 boys were given it, #2,144 among boys’ names. The 56 births of 2025 are 86% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 56 | #2,448 | 32.8 |
| 2024 | 36 | #3,325 | 20.9 |
| 2023 | 37 | #3,284 | 21.6 |
| 2022 | 45 | #2,865 | 25.8 |
| 2021 | 39 | #3,115 | 22.3 |
| 2020 | 52 | #2,503 | 30.1 |
| 2019 | 51 | #2,578 | 28.4 |
| 2018 | 49 | #2,615 | 27.0 |
| 2017 | 55 | #2,384 | 29.7 |
| 2016 | 65 | #2,144 | 34.3 |
Every recorded year (60)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 39 | #3,018 | 20.3 |
| 2014 | 24 | #4,252 | 12.5 |
| 2013 | 18 | #5,155 | 9.5 |
| 2012 | 17 | #5,461 | 9.0 |
| 2011 | 17 | #5,411 | 9.0 |
| 2010 | 15 | #6,014 | 7.8 |
| 2009 | 13 | #6,783 | 6.6 |
| 2008 | 20 | #4,887 | 9.8 |
| 2007 | 15 | #5,887 | 7.2 |
| 2006 | 23 | #4,209 | 11.2 |
| 2005 | 18 | #4,809 | 9.0 |
| 2004 | 13 | #6,114 | 6.5 |
| 2003 | 17 | #4,804 | 8.6 |
| 2002 | 16 | #4,895 | 8.2 |
| 2001 | 16 | #4,875 | 8.2 |
| 2000 | 9 | #7,372 | 4.6 |
| 1999 | 9 | #7,102 | 4.7 |
| 1998 | 16 | #4,401 | 8.4 |
| 1997 | 11 | #5,623 | 5.8 |
| 1996 | 11 | #5,514 | 5.8 |
| 1995 | 12 | #5,104 | 6.3 |
| 1994 | 10 | #5,845 | 5.2 |
| 1993 | 7 | #7,601 | 3.6 |
| 1992 | 18 | #3,595 | 9.0 |
| 1991 | 10 | #5,490 | 4.9 |
| 1990 | 12 | #4,655 | 5.8 |
| 1989 | 6 | #7,867 | 3.0 |
| 1988 | 16 | #3,336 | 8.4 |
| 1987 | 17 | #3,062 | 9.1 |
| 1986 | 14 | #3,432 | 7.6 |
| 1985 | 11 | #4,033 | 6.0 |
| 1984 | 16 | #2,949 | 8.9 |
| 1983 | 17 | #2,784 | 9.5 |
| 1982 | 19 | #2,592 | 10.5 |
| 1981 | 14 | #3,210 | 7.8 |
| 1980 | 17 | #2,825 | 9.5 |
| 1979 | 18 | #2,666 | 10.5 |
| 1978 | 27 | #1,911 | 16.4 |
| 1977 | 25 | #2,005 | 15.2 |
| 1976 | 36 | #1,536 | 22.9 |
| 1975 | 37 | #1,477 | 23.7 |
| 1974 | 6 | #5,206 | 3.8 |
| 1973 | 12 | #3,007 | 7.7 |
| 1972 | 11 | #3,143 | 6.8 |
| 1969 | 5 | #5,014 | 2.8 |
| 1968 | 6 | #4,119 | 3.5 |
| 1967 | 7 | #3,546 | 4.0 |
| 1966 | 6 | #3,932 | 3.4 |
| 1965 | 9 | #2,972 | 4.8 |
| 1951 | 5 | #4,228 | 2.7 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Wali a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Wali has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 60 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Wali: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Wali, and how old are they?
1,210 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 1,248 Americans ever recorded as Wali. The median Wali alive today is 16 years old; half are between 7 and 39.
The 2020 Census counted 1,213 people named Wali (16 women and girls, 1,197 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 965 born in the U.S. The Census count is 26% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 200 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 199 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 241 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 562 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
How common is the spelling Wali?
Wali is a less common spelling of Wally: SSA has recorded 1,248 Wali and 5,101 Wally since 1880.
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 6,846 babies since 1880, Wali is the second most given (18% of them). In 2025 it was given to 56 of their 72 babies (78%), the most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Wali
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Wali and names like it
- Compare Wali and WallyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sWali peaked in 2016.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Wali since 1910.
- The top names of 2016The year the most babies were named Wali.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Wali alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with WMost given first.