Wil
Wil was given to 5 boys in 2025, #13,793 among boys’ names; 1,094 Americans have been recorded with it since 1953 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,050 Americans named Wil and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 26 years old and half are between 19 and 34.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Wil by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Wil mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Wil is “a male given name, variant of Will.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Wil?
#13,793 among boys’ names, 2025
Wil fell from #5,048 in 2015 to #13,793 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 9.9 to 2.9 per million.
48 babies in 2005, the peak
Wil peaked in 2005, when 48 boys were given it, #2,426 among boys’ names. The 5 births of 2025 are 10% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #13,793 | 2.9 |
| 2024 | 7 | #10,862 | 4.1 |
| 2023 | 6 | #12,164 | 3.5 |
| 2022 | 12 | #7,228 | 6.9 |
| 2021 | 8 | #9,643 | 4.6 |
| 2020 | 7 | #10,541 | 4.1 |
| 2019 | 10 | #8,174 | 5.6 |
| 2018 | 7 | #10,689 | 3.9 |
| 2017 | 13 | #6,648 | 7.0 |
| 2016 | 19 | #5,112 | 10.0 |
Every recorded year (60)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 19 | #5,048 | 9.9 |
| 2014 | 12 | #7,022 | 6.2 |
| 2013 | 18 | #5,156 | 9.5 |
| 2012 | 15 | #5,972 | 7.9 |
| 2011 | 15 | #5,925 | 7.9 |
| 2010 | 25 | #4,089 | 13.0 |
| 2009 | 19 | #5,088 | 9.6 |
| 2008 | 25 | #4,132 | 12.3 |
| 2007 | 38 | #3,084 | 18.3 |
| 2006 | 40 | #2,876 | 19.5 |
| 2005 | 48 | #2,426 | 24.0 |
| 2004 | 38 | #2,783 | 19.1 |
| 2003 | 47 | #2,305 | 23.8 |
| 2002 | 27 | #3,338 | 13.9 |
| 2001 | 36 | #2,673 | 18.5 |
| 2000 | 40 | #2,420 | 20.4 |
| 1999 | 42 | #2,226 | 21.9 |
| 1998 | 44 | #2,121 | 23.0 |
| 1997 | 25 | #3,057 | 13.3 |
| 1996 | 29 | #2,672 | 15.3 |
| 1995 | 29 | #2,618 | 15.2 |
| 1994 | 30 | #2,550 | 15.5 |
| 1993 | 24 | #2,935 | 12.2 |
| 1992 | 33 | #2,297 | 16.5 |
| 1991 | 26 | #2,675 | 12.9 |
| 1990 | 30 | #2,365 | 14.6 |
| 1989 | 26 | #2,535 | 13.0 |
| 1988 | 30 | #2,137 | 15.7 |
| 1987 | 15 | #3,328 | 8.0 |
| 1986 | 15 | #3,261 | 8.1 |
| 1985 | 11 | #4,035 | 6.0 |
| 1984 | 10 | #4,202 | 5.5 |
| 1982 | 6 | #6,364 | 3.3 |
| 1981 | 6 | #6,240 | 3.3 |
| 1980 | 7 | #5,509 | 3.9 |
| 1979 | 7 | #5,340 | 4.1 |
| 1978 | 5 | #6,736 | 3.0 |
| 1977 | 6 | #5,826 | 3.7 |
| 1976 | 5 | #6,479 | 3.2 |
| 1974 | 6 | #5,208 | 3.8 |
| 1973 | 7 | #4,490 | 4.5 |
| 1972 | 8 | #3,956 | 4.9 |
| 1971 | 7 | #4,363 | 4.0 |
| 1970 | 12 | #2,888 | 6.5 |
| 1968 | 6 | #4,122 | 3.5 |
| 1965 | 6 | #3,919 | 3.2 |
| 1964 | 5 | #4,578 | 2.5 |
| 1963 | 10 | #2,850 | 4.9 |
| 1960 | 5 | #4,579 | 2.3 |
| 1953 | 5 | #4,322 | 2.5 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Wil a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Wil 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 Wil: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Wil, and how old are they?
1,050 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 1,094 Americans ever recorded as Wil. The median Wil alive today is 26 years old; half are between 19 and 34.
The 2020 Census counted 2,128 people named Wil (39 women and girls, 2,089 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,023 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.1 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Wil rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 19 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 73 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 306 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 515 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 142 |
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 47,704 babies since 1880, Wil is the second most given (2.3% of them). In 2025 it was given to 5 of their 175 babies (2.9%), 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.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Wil
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 Wil and names like it
- Compare Wil and WillBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sWil peaked in 2005.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Wil since 1910.
- The top names of 2005The year the most babies were named Wil.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Wil alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with WMost given first.