Wells
Wells was given to 944 boys in 2025, #347 among boys’ names; 7,164 Americans have been recorded with it since 1881 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 6,500 Americans named Wells and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (91% of everyone recorded); the median is 5 years old and half are between 2 and 8.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Wells by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Wells mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Wells is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the sense “spring” (well).
From Old English wella, genitive plural of well (“spring”), in reference to a residence near a group of springs. The original use of the genitive case here would’ve indicated origin. The -s ending of the modern form would be added later on upon reanalysis after the breakdown of the case system (outside of pronouns) that occurred in the development of English.
/wɛlz/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Wells?
#347 among boys’ names, 2025
Wells rose from #1,739 in 2015 to #347 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.05 to 0.55 per 1,000.
958 babies in 2025, the peak
Wells peaked in 2025, when 958 babies were given it (944 boys, #347 among boys’ names). In 2024 it went to 869 boys.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 944 | #347 | 0.55 |
| 2024 | 869 | #378 | 0.50 |
| 2023 | 696 | #447 | 0.41 |
| 2022 | 659 | #469 | 0.38 |
| 2021 | 621 | #482 | 0.35 |
| 2020 | 521 | #546 | 0.30 |
| 2019 | 432 | #628 | 0.24 |
| 2018 | 327 | #731 | 0.18 |
| 2017 | 233 | #916 | 0.13 |
| 2016 | 124 | #1,418 | 0.07 |
Every recorded year (117)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 89 | #1,739 | 0.05 |
| 2014 | 88 | #1,727 | 0.05 |
| 2013 | 60 | #2,202 | 0.03 |
| 2012 | 51 | #2,484 | 0.03 |
| 2011 | 37 | #3,109 | 0.02 |
| 2010 | 32 | #3,447 | 0.02 |
| 2009 | 19 | #5,086 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 17 | #5,476 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 17 | #5,420 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 17 | #5,289 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 22 | #4,186 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 22 | #4,121 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 18 | #4,600 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 10 | #7,010 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 9 | #7,496 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 15 | #5,026 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 10 | #6,506 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 14 | #4,857 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 11 | #5,626 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 6 | #8,961 | under 0.01 |
| 1995 | 9 | #6,381 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 9 | #6,343 | under 0.01 |
| 1993 | 10 | #5,751 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 11 | #5,214 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 14 | #4,212 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 9 | #5,792 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 7 | #6,903 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 8 | #5,724 | under 0.01 |
| 1987 | 7 | #6,065 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 11 | #4,117 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 9 | #4,675 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 11 | #3,911 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 7 | #5,461 | under 0.01 |
| 1981 | 6 | #6,238 | under 0.01 |
| 1980 | 5 | #7,264 | under 0.01 |
| 1979 | 10 | #4,056 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 8 | #4,540 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 6 | #5,823 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 12 | #3,256 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 6 | #5,441 | under 0.01 |
| 1974 | 9 | #3,826 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 13 | #2,852 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 10 | #3,361 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 13 | #2,733 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 8 | #3,585 | under 0.01 |
| 1968 | 12 | #2,569 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 7 | #3,548 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 5 | #4,522 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 5 | #4,573 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 7 | #3,638 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 7 | #3,628 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 7 | #3,646 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 10 | #2,863 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 6 | #3,975 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 7 | #3,553 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 7 | #3,543 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 6 | #3,927 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 12 | #2,427 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 15 | #2,112 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 7 | #3,413 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 7 | #3,361 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 10 | #2,659 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 13 | #2,203 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 8 | #3,007 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 15 | #2,022 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 11 | #2,494 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 14 | #2,027 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 12 | #2,126 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 7 | #3,099 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 14 | #2,069 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 10 | #2,515 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 10 | #2,486 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 9 | #2,665 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 12 | #2,154 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 15 | #1,894 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 11 | #2,327 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 11 | #2,392 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 15 | #1,930 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 9 | #2,731 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 13 | #2,188 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 16 | #1,924 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 17 | #1,886 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 8 | #3,240 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 16 | #2,044 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 21 | #1,747 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 15 | #2,180 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 14 | #2,311 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 22 | #1,723 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 15 | #2,217 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 27 | #1,467 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 37 | #1,197 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 18 | #1,960 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 26 | #1,447 | 0.03 |
| 1918 | 17 | #1,993 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 19 | #1,752 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 21 | #1,590 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 23 | #1,451 | 0.03 |
| 1914 | 20 | #1,385 | 0.03 |
| 1913 | 12 | #1,671 | 0.02 |
| 1912 | 20 | #1,057 | 0.05 |
| 1911 | 8 | #1,381 | 0.04 |
| 1910 | 6 | #1,584 | 0.03 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,297 | 0.04 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,233 | 0.04 |
| 1886 | 6 | #958 | 0.05 |
| 1884 | 5 | #1,119 | 0.04 |
| 1881 | 5 | #990 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Wells a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 7,164 Americans recorded as Wells, 2% are girls and 98% boys. In 2025 it went to 14 girls and 944 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Wells: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Wells, and how old are they?
6,500 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 91% of the 7,164 Americans ever recorded as Wells. The median Wells alive today is 5 years old; half are between 2 and 8.
The 2020 Census counted 2,448 people named Wells (174 women and girls, 2,274 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,326 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 37 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 111 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 110 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 127 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 332 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 5,780 |
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 Wells born?
The states with the most babies named Wells are Texas, North Carolina and Utah, with 20% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Utah is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 85 | #413 | 0.7× |
| North Carolina | 54 | #232 | 1.3× |
| Utah | 51 | #104 | 3.5× |
| Tennessee | 37 | #242 | 1.2× |
| Ohio | 35 | #332 | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 35 | #287 | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 32 | #344 | 0.7× |
| Colorado | 31 | #216 | 1.2× |
| Florida | 30 | #582 | 0.4× |
| California | 29 | #844 | 0.4× |
Where Wells is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Wells is most over-represented in Utah: since 1910 it was given 3.5 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 Wells 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 7,644 babies since 1880, Wells is the most given (94% of them). In 2025 it was given to 958 of their 1,000 babies (96%), again the most given.
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 Wells
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 Wells and names like it
- Compare Wells and WellesBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sWells peaked in 2025.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Wells since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Wells: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Wells.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Wells alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with WMost given first.