Welby
Of English origin, meaning "a dwell from the well-town".
Name Census estimates that about 104 living Americans carry the first name Welby. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Welby today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Welby births was 1921 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Welby. 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
104
~ 1 in 3,295,715 Americans
Peak year
1921
17 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
1997 SSA rank
#10,765
Tracked since 1893
Popularity
Welby: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Welby from the 1890s through to the 1990s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 90 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
Welby 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 Welby during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Welbys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Welby
The given name Welby has its roots in an Old English word "wel", meaning a spring or stream. It is a variant of the name Wilbur, which is derived from the combination of "wil" (meaning desire or will) and "ber" (meaning bear). The name Welby can be traced back to the early medieval period in England.
Welby is a relatively uncommon name, but it has been recorded throughout history. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is from the 12th century, when a man named Welby de Ridenhall lived in Norfolk, England. In the 13th century, a Welby de Neville was mentioned in historical records as a landowner in Lincolnshire.
In the 16th century, a notable figure named Welby Inglesby (1520-1589) was a member of the English gentry and served as a Member of Parliament. Another individual named Welby Pugin (1834-1852) was a renowned English architect and designer, known for his contributions to the Gothic Revival architectural style.
The name Welby also appears in religious texts and literature. In the 19th century, Welby Pugin Biggs (1838-1914) was an English Catholic priest and author who wrote several books on religious subjects. Additionally, Welby Amory (1892-1982) was an American author and poet, best known for his work "The Proper Bostonians."
One of the most famous individuals with the name Welby was Sir Welby Everard, 1st Baronet (1609-1676), an English politician and landowner who served as a Member of Parliament and supported the Parliamentarian cause during the English Civil War.
Throughout history, the name Welby has been carried by various individuals from different walks of life, including politicians, architects, authors, and religious figures. Despite its relative rarity, the name has persisted across centuries, reflecting its linguistic origins and cultural significance.
People
Welby + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Welby 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
Welby: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Welby?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 104 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Welby 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 3,295,715 US residents.
Is Welby a common name?
We classify Welby as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 372 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Welby most popular?
The single biggest year for Welby was 1921, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Welby is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Welby a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Welby 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.
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.