Wali
Guardian, protector; a devout or orthodox Muslim.
Name Census estimates that about 1,159 living Americans carry the first name Wali. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wali today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wali births was 2016 (65 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wali. 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 Wali with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 295,733 Americans
Peak year
2016
65 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,314
Tracked since 1951
Census
Wali in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,213 people with the first name Wali, which placed it at #10,814 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
#10,814
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,213 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
47.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wali
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wali is Asian/Pacific Islander at 47.7%. The next largest groups are Black (37.3%) and Two or More Races (6.8%). 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 Wali 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 Wali at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander47.7% · 579
- Black or African American37.3% · 452
- Two or more races6.8% · 83
- White6.0% · 73
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 7
Popularity
Wali: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wali from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 350 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Wali remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wali 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 Wali during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Walis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. New Jersey, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Wali, while Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 44 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wali
The name Wali has its origins in Arabic and has been in use for centuries. It is derived from the Arabic word "waliy" which means "protector," "guardian," or "friend of God." The name is deeply rooted in Islamic culture and tradition.
In the Islamic tradition, the term "wali" is often used to refer to saints, holy figures, or those who have achieved a high level of spiritual enlightenment. It is believed that these individuals have a close relationship with God and serve as intermediaries between the divine and the mortal realms.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Wali can be found in the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam. It is mentioned in several verses, often in reference to those who have attained a state of spiritual purity and closeness to God.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Wali. One of the most renowned was Wali al-Din Rumi (1207-1273), a Persian poet and Sufi mystic whose works, such as the Masnavi, have had a profound influence on Islamic spirituality and literature.
Another prominent figure was Wali Muhammad (1642-1712), a Mughal prince and military commander who played a significant role in the expansion of the Mughal Empire in South Asia.
In the realm of Islamic scholarship, Wali al-Din al-Farisi (d. 1318) was a renowned philosopher and theologian who made significant contributions to the study of Islamic jurisprudence and metaphysics.
Wali Khan (1917-1998) was a prominent political leader from Pakistan who fought for the rights of the Pashtun people and was instrumental in the formation of the Awami National Party.
Wali Bahadur Puar (1820-1857) was an Indian ruler and military commander who played a crucial role in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the British East India Company.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Wali, a name that carries with it a rich cultural and spiritual significance in the Islamic tradition.
People
Wali + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wali as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Wali: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wali?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,159 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wali 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 295,733 US residents.
Is Wali a common name?
We classify Wali as "Rare". It ranks above 91% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,192 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wali most popular?
The single biggest year for Wali was 2016, when 65 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wali is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wali in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,213 people with the name Wali, or 0.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,814 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 Wali 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 Wali?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wali leans strongly male. 1,197 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 16 female bearers (1.3%). 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 Wali?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wali is Asian/Pacific Islander at 47.7%. The next largest groups are Black (37.3%) and Two or More Races (6.8%). 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 Wali most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Wali in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.7% (579 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 Wali in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wali a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wali 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 Wali still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wali 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 Wali 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 common is the name Wali?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Wali at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.