Willa
Willa was given to 742 girls in 2025, #422 among girls’ names; 32,848 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 18,100 Americans named Willa and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (55% of everyone recorded); the median is 12 years old and half are between 6 and 67.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Willa by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Willa mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Willa is “a female given name from the Germanic languages.”
Derived from Wilhelmina and recoined in the 19th century in America based on the male given names Will and William.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Willa?
#422 among girls’ names, 2025
Willa rose from #481 in 2015 to #422 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.38 to 0.46 per 1,000.
889 babies in 2019, the peak
Willa peaked in 2019, when 889 girls were given it, #356 among girls’ names. The 742 births of 2025 are 83% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 742 | #422 | 0.46 |
| 2024 | 733 | #423 | 0.45 |
| 2023 | 721 | #430 | 0.45 |
| 2022 | 791 | #396 | 0.48 |
| 2021 | 887 | #351 | 0.54 |
| 2020 | 887 | #350 | 0.55 |
| 2019 | 889 | #356 | 0.53 |
| 2018 | 813 | #383 | 0.48 |
| 2017 | 699 | #454 | 0.40 |
| 2016 | 689 | #461 | 0.39 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 675 | #481 | 0.38 |
| 2014 | 562 | #551 | 0.31 |
| 2013 | 406 | #697 | 0.23 |
| 2012 | 389 | #717 | 0.22 |
| 2011 | 261 | #984 | 0.15 |
| 2010 | 269 | #954 | 0.15 |
| 2009 | 252 | #1,036 | 0.14 |
| 2008 | 247 | #1,061 | 0.13 |
| 2007 | 201 | #1,238 | 0.10 |
| 2006 | 116 | #1,796 | 0.06 |
| 2005 | 121 | #1,655 | 0.07 |
| 2004 | 99 | #1,905 | 0.05 |
| 2003 | 96 | #1,913 | 0.05 |
| 2002 | 97 | #1,849 | 0.05 |
| 2001 | 59 | #2,595 | 0.03 |
| 2000 | 56 | #2,667 | 0.03 |
| 1999 | 64 | #2,337 | 0.04 |
| 1998 | 46 | #2,885 | 0.03 |
| 1997 | 33 | #3,540 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 35 | #3,355 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 49 | #2,582 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 48 | #2,619 | 0.03 |
| 1993 | 41 | #2,931 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 31 | #3,572 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 30 | #3,626 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 27 | #3,901 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 32 | #3,322 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 32 | #3,156 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 24 | #3,738 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 30 | #3,130 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 24 | #3,617 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 37 | #2,571 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 23 | #3,548 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 27 | #3,257 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 30 | #2,983 | 0.02 |
| 1980 | 24 | #3,502 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 34 | #2,668 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 32 | #2,679 | 0.02 |
| 1977 | 27 | #3,000 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 24 | #3,092 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 28 | #2,742 | 0.02 |
| 1974 | 27 | #2,755 | 0.02 |
| 1973 | 29 | #2,563 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 34 | #2,274 | 0.02 |
| 1971 | 48 | #1,856 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 50 | #1,802 | 0.03 |
| 1969 | 44 | #1,895 | 0.03 |
| 1968 | 41 | #1,885 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 74 | #1,254 | 0.04 |
| 1966 | 76 | #1,240 | 0.04 |
| 1965 | 92 | #1,096 | 0.05 |
| 1964 | 109 | #1,041 | 0.06 |
| 1963 | 98 | #1,103 | 0.05 |
| 1962 | 135 | #913 | 0.07 |
| 1961 | 138 | #919 | 0.07 |
| 1960 | 149 | #853 | 0.07 |
| 1959 | 139 | #881 | 0.07 |
| 1958 | 163 | #787 | 0.08 |
| 1957 | 169 | #769 | 0.08 |
| 1956 | 185 | #703 | 0.09 |
| 1955 | 237 | #600 | 0.12 |
| 1954 | 226 | #602 | 0.12 |
| 1953 | 229 | #584 | 0.12 |
| 1952 | 276 | #507 | 0.15 |
| 1951 | 238 | #546 | 0.13 |
| 1950 | 256 | #506 | 0.15 |
| 1949 | 293 | #468 | 0.17 |
| 1948 | 244 | #530 | 0.14 |
| 1947 | 303 | #471 | 0.17 |
| 1946 | 300 | #448 | 0.19 |
| 1945 | 344 | #380 | 0.26 |
| 1944 | 371 | #360 | 0.28 |
| 1943 | 364 | #380 | 0.26 |
| 1942 | 421 | #338 | 0.31 |
| 1941 | 400 | #331 | 0.33 |
| 1940 | 375 | #329 | 0.33 |
| 1939 | 375 | #320 | 0.34 |
| 1938 | 368 | #330 | 0.33 |
| 1937 | 405 | #308 | 0.38 |
| 1936 | 454 | #281 | 0.44 |
| 1935 | 414 | #298 | 0.39 |
| 1934 | 486 | #278 | 0.47 |
| 1933 | 462 | #280 | 0.46 |
| 1932 | 515 | #274 | 0.48 |
| 1931 | 450 | #300 | 0.42 |
| 1930 | 512 | #293 | 0.45 |
| 1929 | 494 | #294 | 0.44 |
| 1928 | 500 | #299 | 0.43 |
| 1927 | 566 | #278 | 0.47 |
| 1926 | 536 | #288 | 0.45 |
| 1925 | 521 | #296 | 0.43 |
| 1924 | 471 | #307 | 0.38 |
| 1923 | 457 | #301 | 0.38 |
| 1922 | 416 | #319 | 0.35 |
| 1921 | 407 | #328 | 0.33 |
| 1920 | 424 | #317 | 0.35 |
| 1919 | 382 | #325 | 0.34 |
| 1918 | 425 | #311 | 0.37 |
| 1917 | 336 | #341 | 0.31 |
| 1916 | 316 | #349 | 0.30 |
| 1915 | 292 | #347 | 0.30 |
| 1914 | 251 | #332 | 0.33 |
| 1913 | 208 | #334 | 0.33 |
| 1912 | 180 | #344 | 0.32 |
| 1911 | 145 | #329 | 0.35 |
| 1910 | 134 | #342 | 0.34 |
| 1909 | 123 | #329 | 0.35 |
| 1908 | 99 | #364 | 0.30 |
| 1907 | 106 | #339 | 0.33 |
| 1906 | 97 | #340 | 0.33 |
| 1905 | 92 | #349 | 0.32 |
| 1904 | 91 | #342 | 0.33 |
| 1903 | 79 | #360 | 0.30 |
| 1902 | 64 | #390 | 0.24 |
| 1901 | 55 | #403 | 0.23 |
| 1900 | 84 | #369 | 0.28 |
| 1899 | 61 | #373 | 0.26 |
| 1898 | 60 | #400 | 0.23 |
| 1897 | 58 | #381 | 0.25 |
| 1896 | 67 | #357 | 0.28 |
| 1895 | 53 | #390 | 0.23 |
| 1894 | 43 | #428 | 0.19 |
| 1893 | 48 | #390 | 0.23 |
| 1892 | 51 | #377 | 0.24 |
| 1891 | 35 | #429 | 0.19 |
| 1890 | 51 | #360 | 0.27 |
| 1889 | 40 | #386 | 0.22 |
| 1888 | 39 | #393 | 0.22 |
| 1887 | 31 | #397 | 0.21 |
| 1886 | 31 | #394 | 0.21 |
| 1885 | 25 | #427 | 0.19 |
| 1884 | 16 | #540 | 0.12 |
| 1883 | 20 | #434 | 0.18 |
| 1882 | 15 | #492 | 0.14 |
| 1881 | 10 | #579 | 0.11 |
| 1880 | 12 | #517 | 0.13 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Willa a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Willa has been given almost only to girls: 24 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Willa: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Willa, and how old are they?
18,100 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 55% of the 32,848 Americans ever recorded as Willa. The median Willa alive today is 12 years old; half are between 6 and 67.
The 2020 Census counted 14,808 people named Willa (14,755 women and girls, 53 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 15,567 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 2,130 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 2,920 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 628 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 506 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,380 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 9,440 |
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 Willa born?
The states with the most babies named Willa are California, New York and Colorado, with 18% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Colorado is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 56 | #585 | 0.6× |
| New York | 38 | #460 | 0.4× |
| Colorado | 36 | #165 | 1.3× |
| Minnesota | 33 | #166 | 0.8× |
| Texas | 31 | #948 | 0.6× |
| North Carolina | 30 | #370 | 1.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 27 | #411 | 0.6× |
| Wisconsin | 27 | #212 | 0.5× |
| Tennessee | 25 | #334 | 1.8× |
| Michigan | 25 | #363 | 0.5× |
Where Willa is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Willa is most over-represented in Oklahoma: since 1910 it was given 2.1 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 girls’ 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 Willa 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 37,857 babies since 1880, Willa is the most given (87% of them). In 2025 it was given to 742 of their 758 babies (98%), 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 Willa
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 Willa and names like it
- Compare Willa and WilliaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sWilla peaked in 2019.
- North Carolina’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Willa since 1910.
- Germanic namesWiktionary’s origin for Willa: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2019The year the most babies were named Willa.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Willa alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with WMost given first.