Wiliam
Wiliam was given to 13 boys in 2025, #6,779 among boys’ names; 1,256 Americans have been recorded with it since 1881 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Wiliam by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Wiliam?
#6,779 among boys’ names, 2025
Wiliam fell from #6,653 in 2015 to #6,779 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 6.8 to 7.6 per million.
28 babies in 1982, the peak
Wiliam peaked in 1982, when 28 boys were given it, #1,997 among boys’ names. The 13 births of 2025 are 46% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 13 | #6,779 | 7.6 |
| 2024 | 13 | #6,804 | 7.5 |
| 2023 | 5 | #14,077 | 2.9 |
| 2022 | 9 | #8,940 | 5.2 |
| 2021 | 8 | #9,645 | 4.6 |
| 2020 | 6 | #11,933 | 3.5 |
| 2019 | 13 | #6,743 | 7.2 |
| 2018 | 14 | #6,319 | 7.7 |
| 2017 | 11 | #7,511 | 5.9 |
| 2016 | 11 | #7,567 | 5.8 |
Every recorded year (110)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 13 | #6,653 | 6.8 |
| 2014 | 12 | #7,023 | 6.2 |
| 2013 | 10 | #8,070 | 5.3 |
| 2012 | 15 | #5,974 | 7.9 |
| 2011 | 17 | #5,415 | 9.0 |
| 2010 | 9 | #8,747 | 4.7 |
| 2009 | 14 | #6,409 | 7.1 |
| 2008 | 20 | #4,890 | 9.8 |
| 2007 | 13 | #6,593 | 6.3 |
| 2006 | 10 | #7,964 | 4.9 |
| 2005 | 8 | #9,060 | 4.0 |
| 2004 | 8 | #8,882 | 4.0 |
| 2003 | 10 | #7,214 | 5.1 |
| 2002 | 10 | #7,015 | 5.2 |
| 2001 | 14 | #5,373 | 7.2 |
| 2000 | 14 | #5,282 | 7.1 |
| 1999 | 12 | #5,635 | 6.2 |
| 1998 | 9 | #6,814 | 4.7 |
| 1997 | 12 | #5,271 | 6.4 |
| 1996 | 6 | #8,966 | 3.2 |
| 1995 | 15 | #4,262 | 7.9 |
| 1994 | 12 | #5,094 | 6.2 |
| 1993 | 11 | #5,340 | 5.6 |
| 1992 | 6 | #8,391 | 3.0 |
| 1991 | 15 | #3,993 | 7.4 |
| 1990 | 17 | #3,596 | 8.3 |
| 1989 | 12 | #4,510 | 6.0 |
| 1988 | 21 | #2,757 | 11.0 |
| 1987 | 23 | #2,462 | 12.3 |
| 1986 | 25 | #2,283 | 13.6 |
| 1985 | 25 | #2,224 | 13.5 |
| 1984 | 20 | #2,524 | 11.1 |
| 1983 | 19 | #2,573 | 10.6 |
| 1982 | 28 | #1,997 | 15.4 |
| 1981 | 11 | #3,850 | 6.1 |
| 1980 | 14 | #3,253 | 7.8 |
| 1979 | 20 | #2,462 | 11.6 |
| 1978 | 10 | #3,844 | 6.1 |
| 1977 | 17 | #2,660 | 10.3 |
| 1976 | 12 | #3,257 | 7.6 |
| 1975 | 19 | #2,358 | 12.2 |
| 1974 | 13 | #2,940 | 8.3 |
| 1973 | 18 | #2,308 | 11.5 |
| 1972 | 12 | #2,985 | 7.4 |
| 1971 | 21 | #2,048 | 11.9 |
| 1970 | 17 | #2,290 | 9.1 |
| 1969 | 15 | #2,305 | 8.4 |
| 1968 | 15 | #2,195 | 8.6 |
| 1967 | 11 | #2,606 | 6.3 |
| 1966 | 8 | #3,244 | 4.5 |
| 1965 | 8 | #3,239 | 4.3 |
| 1964 | 7 | #3,594 | 3.5 |
| 1963 | 10 | #2,851 | 4.9 |
| 1962 | 9 | #3,034 | 4.4 |
| 1961 | 6 | #4,050 | 2.8 |
| 1960 | 13 | #2,419 | 6.1 |
| 1959 | 13 | #2,408 | 6.1 |
| 1958 | 12 | #2,501 | 5.7 |
| 1957 | 13 | #2,371 | 6.0 |
| 1956 | 6 | #3,929 | 2.8 |
| 1955 | 10 | #2,757 | 4.9 |
| 1954 | 6 | #3,814 | 2.9 |
| 1953 | 9 | #2,897 | 4.6 |
| 1952 | 8 | #3,088 | 4.1 |
| 1951 | 14 | #2,132 | 7.4 |
| 1950 | 7 | #3,316 | 3.9 |
| 1949 | 8 | #3,010 | 4.5 |
| 1948 | 11 | #2,436 | 6.3 |
| 1947 | 10 | #2,664 | 5.5 |
| 1946 | 5 | #4,004 | 3.1 |
| 1945 | 5 | #3,769 | 3.7 |
| 1944 | 6 | #3,420 | 4.4 |
| 1943 | 12 | #2,273 | 8.4 |
| 1942 | 13 | #2,143 | 9.4 |
| 1941 | 5 | #3,987 | 4.1 |
| 1940 | 5 | #3,923 | 4.3 |
| 1939 | 9 | #2,605 | 8.1 |
| 1938 | 6 | #3,527 | 5.4 |
| 1937 | 6 | #3,508 | 5.6 |
| 1936 | 6 | #3,539 | 5.8 |
| 1934 | 10 | #2,558 | 9.7 |
| 1932 | 8 | #3,084 | 7.7 |
| 1930 | 9 | #3,012 | 8.2 |
| 1929 | 13 | #2,314 | 12.1 |
| 1928 | 10 | #2,839 | 9.0 |
| 1927 | 5 | #4,779 | 4.4 |
| 1926 | 15 | #2,181 | 13.5 |
| 1925 | 8 | #3,397 | 7.2 |
| 1924 | 11 | #2,818 | 9.7 |
| 1923 | 9 | #3,164 | 8.2 |
| 1922 | 14 | #2,342 | 12.9 |
| 1921 | 7 | #3,856 | 6.4 |
| 1920 | 10 | #2,958 | 9.4 |
| 1919 | 5 | #4,791 | 5.1 |
| 1918 | 10 | #2,872 | 9.9 |
| 1916 | 6 | #3,880 | 6.7 |
| 1915 | 6 | #3,819 | 7.1 |
| 1914 | 8 | #2,643 | 12.2 |
| 1912 | 8 | #2,039 | 18.6 |
| 1881 | 5 | #991 | 49.6 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Wiliam a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Wiliam has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 110 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Wiliam: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Wiliam, and how old are they?
An estimated 927 Americans named Wiliam and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (74% of everyone recorded); the median is 40 years old and half are between 20 and 54. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 3,993 people named Wiliam (8 women and girls, 3,985 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 923 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4.3 times 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.
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 Wiliam?
Wiliam is a less common spelling of William: SSA has recorded 1,256 Wiliam and 4,215,725 William since 1880.
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 4,225,638 babies since 1880, Wiliam is the fifth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 13 of their 10,628 babies (<1%), the third 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 Wiliam
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 Wiliam and names like it
- Compare Wiliam and WilliamBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sWiliam peaked in 1982.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Wiliam since 1910.
- The top names of 1982The year the most babies were named Wiliam.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Wiliam alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with WMost given first.