Welty
A given name potentially derived from the English word "wealth" or a shortened form of another name.
Name Census estimates that about 0 living Americans carry the first name Welty. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Welty today is around 0 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Welty births was 1925 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Welty. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Welty. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
0
~ - Americans
Peak year
1925
5 babies that year
Average age
-
1925 SSA rank
#4,842
Tracked since 1925
Popularity
Welty: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Welty 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 Welty during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1920s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Welty
The given name Welty has its origins in the Germanic languages, with roots that can be traced back to the Middle Ages. The name likely emerged as a variant of the Old German name Wilhard or Wilhart, which was composed of the elements "wil" (meaning "will" or "desire") and "hart" (meaning "hardy" or "brave").
In its earliest recorded instances, Welty appeared as a surname in various regions of Germany and Switzerland. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Wernher von Weltingen, a German knight and landowner who lived in the 13th century. Historical records also mention a family named Welti residing in the Swiss canton of Bern during the 14th century.
While the name Welty is not found in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it did gain some prominence in the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods. One notable figure was Waldo Welty (1455-1521), a German humanist scholar and professor of rhetoric at the University of Heidelberg. In the realm of literature, Welty was the surname of the renowned American writer Eudora Welty (1909-2001), who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1973.
Other historical figures who bore the given name Welty include:
1. Welty Leisy (1869-1946), an American physician and medical researcher known for his work on the relationship between diet and health.
2. Welty Meyer (1912-1994), a German-American artist and sculptor, particularly known for his abstract metal sculptures.
3. Welty Fesser (1892-1971), a Swiss politician and member of the National Council of Switzerland from 1935 to 1959.
4. Welty Cummings (1920-2002), an American businessman and philanthropist who founded the Cummings Foundation, a charitable organization supporting education and social services.
5. Welty Codrington (1911-1986), a British actor and playwright, best known for his roles in various theater productions in London's West End.
While the name Welty may not be as common as it once was, it holds a rich history and has been borne by individuals from diverse backgrounds, ranging from scholars and artists to politicians and philanthropists.
People
Welty + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Welty 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
Welty: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Welty?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 0 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Welty 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 - US residents.
Is Welty a common name?
We classify Welty as "Very Rare". It ranks above 2.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Welty most popular?
The single biggest year for Welty was 1925, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Welty is about 0 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Welty in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Welty a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Welty 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 Welty still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Welty 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 Welty 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Welty?
Want to know how many Americans are named Welty? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.