Billee
Diminutive or variant form of the feminine name Billie.
Name Census estimates that about 237 living Americans carry the first name Billee. It is a predominantly female name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Billee today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Billee births was 1956 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Billee. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
237
~ 1 in 1,446,221 Americans
Peak year
1956
22 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
1920 SSA rank
#4,361
Tracked since 1915
Census
Billee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 389 people with the first name Billee, which placed it at #24,672 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#24,672
National first-name rank
People counted
389
389 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Billee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Billee is White at 85.9%. The next largest groups are Black (3.3%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Billee described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Billee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.9% · 334
- Black or African American3.3% · 13
- Two or more races3.3% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Billee
Out of the 619 babies given the name Billee since 1880, 99.2% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Billee as a male name
- Ranked #4,361 in 1920
- 5 male births in 1920
- Peak: 1920 (5 births)
Billee as a female name
- Ranked #12,337 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1956 (22 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Billee leans strongly female. 336 people counted with this name were female (87.3%), compared with 49 male bearers (12.7%).
Popularity
Billee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Billee from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 158 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Billee by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Billee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Billees live
Origin
Meaning and history of Billee
The given name Billee is a variant spelling of the name Billie, which is an English diminutive form of the name William. William itself is derived from the Germanic name Willahelm, which is composed of two elements: wil meaning "will" or "desire," and helm meaning "helmet" or "protection." The name Willahelm ultimately translates to "resolute protector" or "strong-willed warrior."
The earliest recorded use of the name Billee dates back to the late 19th century. It emerged as a feminine variation of the traditionally masculine name Bill, which is a shortened form of William. The addition of the double "e" ending was likely an attempt to create a more feminine-sounding version of the name.
One of the earliest known individuals to bear the name Billee was Billee Taylor, an American vaudeville performer and singer who was active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was born in 1868 and gained popularity for her performances in various vaudeville theaters and music halls across the United States.
Another notable Billee was Billee Woodruff, an American actress and dancer who appeared in several Broadway productions and films during the 1920s and 1930s. She was born in 1894 and is best known for her roles in the Broadway musicals "The Desert Song" and "The New Moon."
In the literary world, Billee is the name of one of the three main characters in the poem "The Yarn of the Nancy Bell" by Sir William Schwenck Gilbert, published in 1870. The poem tells the story of three young men aboard a ship and their encounters with a ghostly figure.
Moving to more recent times, Billee Howard was an American actress and singer who appeared in various television shows and films during the 1950s and 1960s. She was born in 1928 and is perhaps best known for her role as Lily on the popular sitcom "The Mothers-in-Law."
Lastly, Billee Nailee was an Australian country music singer and songwriter who gained popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. She was born in 1949 and is known for her hit songs such as "Lonesome Road" and "Just a Country Song."
People
Billee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Billee as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Billee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Billee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 237 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Billee going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,446,221 US residents.
Is Billee a common name?
We classify Billee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 619 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Billee most popular?
The single biggest year for Billee was 1956, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Billee is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Billee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 389 people with the name Billee, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,672 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Billee in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Billee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Billee leans strongly female. 336 people counted with this name were female (87.3%), compared with 49 male bearers (12.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Billee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Billee is White at 85.9%. The next largest groups are Black (3.3%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Billee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Billee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.9% (334 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Billee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Billee a female name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Billee in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Billee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Billee in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Billee can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Billee?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Billee on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.