Wally
Wally was given to 16 boys in 2025, #5,836 among boys’ names; 5,101 Americans have been recorded with it since 1910 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,970 Americans named Wally and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (58% of everyone recorded); the median is 64 years old and half are between 51 and 72.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Wally by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Wally mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Wally is “a diminutive of the male given names of Waldo, Walter, Wallabee, and Wallace.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Wally?
#5,836 among boys’ names, 2025
Wally rose from #7,033 in 2015 to #5,836 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 6.3 to 9.4 per million.
185 babies in 1959, the peak
Wally peaked in 1959, when 185 boys were given it, #578 among boys’ names. The 16 births of 2025 are 9% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 16 | #5,836 | 9.4 |
| 2024 | 14 | #6,443 | 8.1 |
| 2023 | 15 | #6,193 | 8.8 |
| 2022 | 15 | #6,129 | 8.6 |
| 2021 | 10 | #8,122 | 5.7 |
| 2020 | 15 | #5,959 | 8.7 |
| 2019 | 12 | #7,137 | 6.7 |
| 2018 | 16 | #5,750 | 8.8 |
| 2017 | 16 | #5,765 | 8.6 |
| 2016 | 13 | #6,697 | 6.9 |
Every recorded year (114)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 12 | #7,033 | 6.3 |
| 2014 | 9 | #8,741 | 4.7 |
| 2013 | 11 | #7,513 | 5.8 |
| 2012 | 11 | #7,519 | 5.8 |
| 2011 | 10 | #8,033 | 5.3 |
| 2010 | 12 | #7,056 | 6.3 |
| 2009 | 10 | #8,269 | 5.0 |
| 2008 | 10 | #8,279 | 4.9 |
| 2007 | 14 | #6,247 | 6.7 |
| 2006 | 19 | #4,846 | 9.2 |
| 2005 | 14 | #5,855 | 7.0 |
| 2004 | 10 | #7,498 | 5.0 |
| 2003 | 8 | #8,592 | 4.0 |
| 2002 | 7 | #9,343 | 3.6 |
| 2000 | 10 | #6,802 | 5.1 |
| 1999 | 17 | #4,329 | 8.9 |
| 1998 | 11 | #5,821 | 5.8 |
| 1996 | 7 | #7,930 | 3.7 |
| 1995 | 15 | #4,261 | 7.9 |
| 1994 | 14 | #4,520 | 7.2 |
| 1993 | 15 | #4,207 | 7.6 |
| 1992 | 10 | #5,633 | 5.0 |
| 1991 | 19 | #3,314 | 9.4 |
| 1990 | 13 | #4,388 | 6.3 |
| 1989 | 22 | #2,889 | 11.0 |
| 1988 | 25 | #2,429 | 13.1 |
| 1987 | 24 | #2,390 | 12.9 |
| 1986 | 20 | #2,679 | 10.9 |
| 1985 | 22 | #2,421 | 11.9 |
| 1984 | 17 | #2,819 | 9.4 |
| 1983 | 19 | #2,572 | 10.6 |
| 1982 | 18 | #2,704 | 9.9 |
| 1981 | 28 | #1,991 | 15.6 |
| 1980 | 24 | #2,210 | 13.5 |
| 1979 | 24 | #2,151 | 13.9 |
| 1978 | 29 | #1,831 | 17.7 |
| 1977 | 34 | #1,644 | 20.7 |
| 1976 | 34 | #1,603 | 21.7 |
| 1975 | 41 | #1,376 | 26.3 |
| 1974 | 38 | #1,408 | 24.2 |
| 1973 | 39 | #1,353 | 25.0 |
| 1972 | 35 | #1,450 | 21.6 |
| 1971 | 52 | #1,148 | 29.4 |
| 1970 | 47 | #1,221 | 25.3 |
| 1969 | 48 | #1,135 | 26.8 |
| 1968 | 74 | #850 | 42.6 |
| 1967 | 66 | #892 | 37.8 |
| 1966 | 75 | #844 | 42.1 |
| 1965 | 96 | #758 | 51.6 |
| 1964 | 102 | #759 | 51.2 |
| 1963 | 140 | #660 | 68.9 |
| 1962 | 159 | #613 | 76.9 |
| 1961 | 162 | #623 | 76.3 |
| 1960 | 132 | #685 | 61.9 |
| 1959 | 185 | #578 | 86.7 |
| 1958 | 127 | #676 | 59.8 |
| 1957 | 112 | #708 | 51.9 |
| 1956 | 79 | #846 | 37.3 |
| 1955 | 86 | #790 | 41.7 |
| 1954 | 66 | #916 | 32.4 |
| 1953 | 72 | #850 | 36.5 |
| 1952 | 67 | #860 | 34.5 |
| 1951 | 77 | #804 | 40.9 |
| 1950 | 66 | #842 | 36.9 |
| 1949 | 78 | #780 | 44.0 |
| 1948 | 89 | #711 | 50.7 |
| 1947 | 119 | #633 | 65.0 |
| 1946 | 102 | #637 | 62.8 |
| 1945 | 102 | #602 | 75.8 |
| 1944 | 85 | #677 | 62.4 |
| 1943 | 95 | #661 | 66.6 |
| 1942 | 94 | #666 | 68.1 |
| 1941 | 78 | #701 | 63.5 |
| 1940 | 74 | #710 | 63.8 |
| 1939 | 62 | #775 | 56.0 |
| 1938 | 66 | #756 | 59.5 |
| 1937 | 68 | #741 | 63.8 |
| 1936 | 67 | #741 | 64.6 |
| 1935 | 68 | #749 | 65.3 |
| 1934 | 64 | #777 | 62.0 |
| 1933 | 47 | #924 | 47.4 |
| 1932 | 40 | #1,076 | 38.3 |
| 1931 | 56 | #857 | 53.9 |
| 1930 | 49 | #974 | 44.7 |
| 1929 | 46 | #1,007 | 42.8 |
| 1928 | 42 | #1,094 | 37.9 |
| 1927 | 39 | #1,161 | 34.6 |
| 1926 | 38 | #1,173 | 34.2 |
| 1925 | 30 | #1,359 | 26.9 |
| 1924 | 26 | #1,530 | 23.0 |
| 1923 | 31 | #1,320 | 28.3 |
| 1922 | 23 | #1,640 | 21.1 |
| 1921 | 23 | #1,645 | 20.9 |
| 1920 | 20 | #1,817 | 18.8 |
| 1919 | 19 | #1,807 | 19.4 |
| 1918 | 17 | #1,992 | 16.8 |
| 1917 | 18 | #1,807 | 19.4 |
| 1916 | 18 | #1,767 | 20.2 |
| 1915 | 7 | #3,375 | 8.2 |
| 1914 | 12 | #1,972 | 18.3 |
| 1913 | 8 | #2,264 | 15.6 |
| 1912 | 9 | #1,878 | 20.9 |
| 1911 | 7 | #1,526 | 31.0 |
| 1910 | 5 | #1,830 | 25.7 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Wally a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 5,101 Americans recorded as Wally, 3% are girls and 97% boys. In 2025 it went to 16 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Wally: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Wally, and how old are they?
2,970 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 58% of the 5,101 Americans ever recorded as Wally. The median Wally alive today is 64 years old; half are between 51 and 72.
The 2020 Census counted 3,807 people named Wally (239 women and girls, 3,568 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,316 born in the U.S. The Census count is 15% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 313 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,390 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 657 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 273 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 160 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 173 |
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).
Where are babies named Wally born?
The states with the most babies named Wally are California, Texas and Illinois, with 58% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 445 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Texas | 294 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 234 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| New York | 184 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Michigan | 104 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Washington | 74 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 68 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Oregon | 35 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Minnesota | 31 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Idaho | 23 | not ranked | 1.0× |
Where Wally is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Wally is most over-represented in California: since 1910 it was given 1.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Wally with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 5 names spelled alike, given to 6,901 babies since 1880, Wally is the most given (74% of them). In 2025 it was given to 16 of their 72 babies (22%), the second 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 Wally
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 Wally and names like it
- Compare Wally and WaliBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sWally peaked in 1959.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Wally since 1910.
- The top names of 1959The year the most babies were named Wally.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Wally alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with WMost given first.