Willow
Willow was given to 4,763 girls in 2025, #44 among girls’ names; 65,560 Americans have been recorded with it since 1890 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 64,400 Americans named Willow and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 7 years old and half are between 4 and 12.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Willow by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Willow mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Willow is “a female given name from English of modern usage.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Willow?
#44 among girls’ names, 2025
Willow rose from #111 in 2015 to #44 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 1.6 to 3.0 per 1,000.
5,231 babies in 2021, the peak
Willow peaked in 2021, when 5,231 babies were given it (5,195 girls, #39 among girls’ names). The 4,786 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 91% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 4,763 | #44 | 3.0 |
| 2024 | 4,672 | #41 | 2.9 |
| 2023 | 4,765 | #41 | 3.0 |
| 2022 | 5,072 | #37 | 3.1 |
| 2021 | 5,195 | #39 | 3.2 |
| 2020 | 4,401 | #48 | 2.7 |
| 2019 | 4,609 | #45 | 2.7 |
| 2018 | 3,933 | #60 | 2.3 |
| 2017 | 3,569 | #80 | 2.1 |
| 2016 | 3,125 | #96 | 1.8 |
Every recorded year (121)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2,811 | #111 | 1.6 |
| 2014 | 2,410 | #136 | 1.3 |
| 2013 | 2,079 | #155 | 1.2 |
| 2012 | 1,839 | #171 | 1.0 |
| 2011 | 1,575 | #199 | 0.90 |
| 2010 | 1,122 | #288 | 0.63 |
| 2009 | 1,054 | #312 | 0.57 |
| 2008 | 797 | #405 | 0.42 |
| 2007 | 771 | #426 | 0.40 |
| 2006 | 578 | #525 | 0.30 |
| 2005 | 542 | #532 | 0.29 |
| 2004 | 519 | #549 | 0.28 |
| 2003 | 537 | #527 | 0.29 |
| 2002 | 546 | #505 | 0.30 |
| 2001 | 379 | #666 | 0.21 |
| 2000 | 301 | #761 | 0.17 |
| 1999 | 310 | #729 | 0.17 |
| 1998 | 250 | #854 | 0.14 |
| 1997 | 169 | #1,115 | 0.10 |
| 1996 | 125 | #1,355 | 0.07 |
| 1995 | 90 | #1,646 | 0.05 |
| 1994 | 84 | #1,751 | 0.05 |
| 1993 | 51 | #2,480 | 0.03 |
| 1992 | 54 | #2,426 | 0.03 |
| 1991 | 55 | #2,348 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 29 | #3,706 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 35 | #3,094 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 26 | #3,682 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 21 | #4,118 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 22 | #3,886 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 37 | #2,654 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 30 | #2,989 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 32 | #2,780 | 0.02 |
| 1982 | 40 | #2,448 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 41 | #2,408 | 0.02 |
| 1980 | 60 | #1,831 | 0.04 |
| 1979 | 62 | #1,767 | 0.04 |
| 1978 | 75 | #1,510 | 0.05 |
| 1977 | 64 | #1,660 | 0.04 |
| 1976 | 66 | #1,550 | 0.05 |
| 1975 | 53 | #1,778 | 0.04 |
| 1974 | 54 | #1,708 | 0.04 |
| 1973 | 43 | #1,938 | 0.03 |
| 1972 | 32 | #2,355 | 0.02 |
| 1971 | 33 | #2,373 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 20 | #3,309 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 17 | #3,457 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 15 | #3,606 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 10 | #4,616 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 14 | #3,554 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 11 | #4,198 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 20 | #2,912 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 12 | #4,011 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 12 | #4,008 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 13 | #3,789 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 15 | #3,355 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 13 | #3,616 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 8 | #4,884 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 14 | #3,303 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 16 | #3,045 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 21 | #2,469 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 12 | #3,487 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 17 | #2,696 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 10 | #3,791 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 13 | #3,100 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 14 | #2,904 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 12 | #3,173 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 18 | #2,413 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 24 | #2,043 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 20 | #2,150 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 21 | #1,871 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 23 | #1,803 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 14 | #2,554 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 12 | #2,812 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 15 | #2,269 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 16 | #2,105 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 19 | #1,879 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 22 | #1,702 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 13 | #2,445 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 24 | #1,548 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 14 | #2,302 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 23 | #1,602 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 24 | #1,550 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 26 | #1,519 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 24 | #1,592 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 19 | #1,931 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 26 | #1,553 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 30 | #1,467 | 0.03 |
| 1927 | 23 | #1,825 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 35 | #1,355 | 0.03 |
| 1925 | 27 | #1,645 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 26 | #1,718 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 27 | #1,635 | 0.02 |
| 1922 | 15 | #2,475 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 23 | #1,863 | 0.02 |
| 1920 | 20 | #2,013 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 14 | #2,508 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 15 | #2,372 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 10 | #3,082 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 20 | #1,803 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 23 | #1,570 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 11 | #2,260 | 0.01 |
| 1913 | 12 | #1,880 | 0.02 |
| 1912 | 6 | #2,968 | 0.01 |
| 1909 | 5 | #2,542 | 0.01 |
| 1908 | 9 | #1,545 | 0.03 |
| 1907 | 5 | #2,388 | 0.02 |
| 1906 | 8 | #1,552 | 0.03 |
| 1904 | 8 | #1,481 | 0.03 |
| 1902 | 5 | #2,037 | 0.02 |
| 1890 | 5 | #1,529 | 0.03 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Willow a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Willow has been given almost only to girls: 465 boys in 121 years of records.
Girls and boys named Willow: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Willow, and how old are they?
64,400 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 65,560 Americans ever recorded as Willow. The median Willow alive today is 7 years old; half are between 4 and 12.
The 2020 Census counted 33,715 people named Willow (33,392 women and girls, 323 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 36,752 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 99 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 218 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 596 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 771 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 11,300 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 51,400 |
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 Willow born?
The states with the most babies named Willow are Texas, Florida and California, with 16% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 273 | #107 | 0.5× |
| Florida | 249 | #57 | 0.7× |
| California | 244 | #123 | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 229 | #24 | 1.3× |
| New York | 209 | #64 | 0.6× |
| North Carolina | 207 | #27 | 1.1× |
| Tennessee | 197 | #10 | 1.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 189 | #38 | 1.1× |
| Missouri | 183 | #9 | 1.4× |
| Georgia | 175 | #29 | 0.9× |
Where Willow is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Willow is most over-represented in West Virginia: since 1910 it was given 1.9 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 Willow 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 65,825 babies since 1880, Willow is the most given (100% of them). In 2025 it was given to 4,786 of their 4,812 babies (99%), 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 Willow
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 Willow and names like it
- Compare Willow and WyllowBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sWillow peaked in 2021.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Willow since 1910.
- English namesWiktionary’s origin for Willow: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2021The year the most babies were named Willow.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Willow alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with WMost given first.