Wess
Wess was given to 8 boys in 2025, #9,649 among boys’ names; 513 Americans have been recorded with it since 1883 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Wess by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Wess?
#9,649 among boys’ names, 2025
Wess entered the boys’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #9,649 in 2025.
16 babies in 1965, the peak
Wess peaked in 1965, when 16 boys were given it, #2,078 among boys’ names. The 8 births of 2025 are 50% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 8 | #9,649 | 4.7 |
| 2024 | 9 | #8,945 | 5.2 |
| 2023 | 6 | #12,162 | 3.5 |
| 2022 | 9 | #8,937 | 5.2 |
| 2021 | 10 | #8,124 | 5.7 |
| 2020 | 8 | #9,505 | 4.6 |
| 2018 | 7 | #10,686 | 3.9 |
| 2017 | 5 | #14,140 | 2.7 |
| 2012 | 7 | #10,701 | 3.7 |
| 2008 | 11 | #7,671 | 5.4 |
Every recorded year (69)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 6 | #11,285 | 3.0 |
| 2002 | 5 | #12,414 | 2.6 |
| 2000 | 8 | #8,167 | 4.1 |
| 1991 | 6 | #8,195 | 3.0 |
| 1990 | 5 | #9,442 | 2.4 |
| 1989 | 6 | #7,870 | 3.0 |
| 1988 | 5 | #8,448 | 2.6 |
| 1987 | 5 | #8,099 | 2.7 |
| 1986 | 7 | #5,905 | 3.8 |
| 1985 | 8 | #5,122 | 4.3 |
| 1984 | 11 | #3,913 | 6.1 |
| 1983 | 6 | #6,205 | 3.3 |
| 1982 | 5 | #7,342 | 2.8 |
| 1981 | 7 | #5,453 | 3.9 |
| 1980 | 9 | #4,481 | 5.0 |
| 1979 | 8 | #4,832 | 4.6 |
| 1978 | 5 | #6,733 | 3.0 |
| 1977 | 15 | #2,905 | 9.1 |
| 1976 | 10 | #3,716 | 6.4 |
| 1975 | 6 | #5,443 | 3.8 |
| 1973 | 6 | #5,079 | 3.8 |
| 1972 | 8 | #3,955 | 4.9 |
| 1971 | 11 | #3,135 | 6.2 |
| 1970 | 6 | #4,710 | 3.2 |
| 1969 | 11 | #2,856 | 6.2 |
| 1968 | 12 | #2,570 | 6.9 |
| 1967 | 8 | #3,222 | 4.6 |
| 1966 | 9 | #2,977 | 5.0 |
| 1965 | 16 | #2,078 | 8.6 |
| 1964 | 9 | #3,040 | 4.5 |
| 1963 | 13 | #2,411 | 6.4 |
| 1962 | 9 | #3,032 | 4.4 |
| 1961 | 13 | #2,404 | 6.1 |
| 1960 | 7 | #3,655 | 3.3 |
| 1959 | 6 | #3,978 | 2.8 |
| 1958 | 5 | #4,493 | 2.4 |
| 1957 | 6 | #3,981 | 2.8 |
| 1956 | 9 | #2,963 | 4.3 |
| 1955 | 6 | #3,873 | 2.9 |
| 1954 | 5 | #4,348 | 2.5 |
| 1950 | 7 | #3,312 | 3.9 |
| 1946 | 5 | #4,002 | 3.1 |
| 1937 | 5 | #4,000 | 4.7 |
| 1935 | 5 | #4,133 | 4.8 |
| 1931 | 5 | #4,301 | 4.8 |
| 1930 | 6 | #3,984 | 5.5 |
| 1928 | 6 | #4,132 | 5.4 |
| 1926 | 6 | #4,176 | 5.4 |
| 1924 | 5 | #4,940 | 4.4 |
| 1918 | 5 | #4,790 | 4.9 |
| 1916 | 11 | #2,534 | 12.4 |
| 1915 | 9 | #2,819 | 10.6 |
| 1909 | 5 | #1,671 | 30.5 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,300 | 39.9 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,234 | 42.6 |
| 1894 | 5 | #1,228 | 43.2 |
| 1891 | 5 | #1,120 | 49.4 |
| 1890 | 7 | #880 | 63.0 |
| 1883 | 7 | #796 | 66.9 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Wess a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Wess has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 69 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Wess: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Wess, and how old are they?
An estimated 362 Americans named Wess and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (71% of everyone recorded); the median is 48 years old and half are between 26 and 60. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 461 people named Wess (2 women and girls, 459 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 332 born in the U.S. The Census count is 39% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Wess rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 7,299 babies since 1880, Wess is the second most given (7.0% of them). In 2025 it was given to 8 of their 384 babies (2.1%), again the second 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.
More about Wess and names like it
- Compare Wess and WesBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sWess peaked in 1965.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Wess since 1910.
- The top names of 1965The year the most babies were named Wess.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Wess alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with WMost given first.