Billy
A diminutive of William, an English masculine name meaning "resolute protector".
Name Census estimates that about 213,640 living Americans carry the first name Billy. It is a predominantly male name (98.6% of registrations). The average person named Billy today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Billy births was 1934 (9,659 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Billy. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Billy with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Billy is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 5,417 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1930s, recent registration numbers for Billy have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
214K
~ 1 in 1,604 Americans
Peak year
1934
9,659 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,047
Tracked since 1880
Census
Billy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 173,436 people with the first name Billy, which placed it at #320 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
#320
National first-name rank
People counted
173K
173,436 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
57.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Billy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Billy is White at 77.2%. The next largest groups are Black (11.9%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Billy 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 Billy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.2% · 133,810
- Black or African American11.9% · 20,605
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 7,065
- Two or more races3.2% · 5,467
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 3,933
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 2,556
Gender
Gender distribution for Billy
Billy leans heavily male at 98.6% of total registrations, but 5,417 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Billy as a male name
- Ranked #1,047 in 2024
- 210 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1934 (9,562 births)
Billy as a female name
- Ranked #8,009 in 2024
- 13 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1930 (166 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Billy leans strongly male. 171,419 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 2,014 female bearers (1.2%).
Popularity
Billy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Billy from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 89,442 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Billy 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 Billy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Billys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma recorded the most babies named Billy, while Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7,511 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Billy
The name Billy is a diminutive form of the name William, which has its origins in the Germanic languages. The name William is derived from the Old German name "Willahelm," which means "will" and "helmet." This name gained popularity during the Middle Ages and was brought to England by the Normans after the conquest in 1066.
The name Billy first appeared as a nickname for William during the 16th century. It was commonly used as a familiar or affectionate form of the name, particularly among the lower classes and in rural areas. Over time, Billy became a standalone given name in its own right.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Billy can be found in the works of William Shakespeare, who used the name in his play "The Merry Wives of Windsor" in 1602. In this play, one of the characters is referred to as "Billy Boy."
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Billy. One of the most famous was Billy the Kid (1859-1881), whose real name was Henry McCarty. He was an outlaw and gunfighter of the American Old West, known for his involvement in the Lincoln County War in New Mexico.
Another well-known Billy was Billy Graham (1918-2018), an American evangelist and Christian minister who was influential in the evangelical Protestant movement during the 20th century. He held large outdoor rallies and encouraged personal conversion, becoming one of the most prominent religious leaders of his time.
In the world of sports, Billy Mills (born 1938) is a renowned American former track and field athlete. He is best known for winning the gold medal in the 10,000-meter run at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, which was considered one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history.
Billy Wilder (1906-2002) was a famous Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer. He is widely regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's Golden Age, directing classic films such as "The Apartment," "Some Like It Hot," and "Sunset Boulevard."
Finally, Billy Idol (born 1955) is a British singer-songwriter and musician who gained popularity during the punk rock and new wave movements of the 1970s and 1980s. Some of his most famous hits include "Rebel Yell," "White Wedding," and "Mony Mony."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Billy
People
Billy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Billy 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
Billy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Billy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 213,640 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Billy 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 1,604 US residents.
Is Billy a common name?
We classify Billy as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 389,442 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Billy most popular?
The single biggest year for Billy was 1934, when 9,659 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Billy is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Billy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 173,436 people with the name Billy, or 57.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #320 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 Billy 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 Billy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Billy leans strongly male. 171,419 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 2,014 female bearers (1.2%). 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 Billy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Billy is White at 77.2%. The next largest groups are Black (11.9%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Billy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Billy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.2% (133,810 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 Billy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Billy a male name?
Yes, 98.6% of people registered as Billy in the SSA data are male. 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 Billy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Billy 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 Billy 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 Americans are named Billy?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.