Willadean
A feminine name derived from the English words "will" and "dean", potentially meaning "strong leader".
Name Census estimates that about 185 living Americans carry the first name Willadean. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Willadean today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Willadean births was 1924 (51 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Willadean. 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
- • The typical person named Willadean is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Willadeans were born before 1960.
People living today
185
~ 1 in 1,852,726 Americans
Peak year
1924
51 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
2022 SSA rank
#12,179
Tracked since 1917
Census
Willadean in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 410 people with the first name Willadean, which placed it at #23,765 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
#23,765
National first-name rank
People counted
410
410 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Willadean
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Willadean is White at 88.3%. The next largest groups are Black (7.8%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Willadean 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 Willadean at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.3% · 362
- Black or African American7.8% · 32
- Two or more races2.2% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 1
Popularity
Willadean: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Willadean from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 323 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
Willadean 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 Willadean during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Willadeans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Willadean, while Texas, Indiana, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Willadean
The given name Willadean is thought to have originated as a combination of the English names William and Dean. It likely emerged in the late 19th or early 20th century in English-speaking regions such as the United States or United Kingdom.
The name William is derived from the Germanic name Willahelm, consisting of the elements "wil" meaning will or desire, and "helm" meaning helmet or protection. William was a popular name among Norman nobility and was brought to England after the Norman Conquest in 1066. It became one of the most common given names in England and later, in the American colonies.
Dean, on the other hand, is an English surname that originated as an occupational name for a dean, which was a high-ranking official in a church or monastery. It comes from the Latin word "decanus," meaning a leader of ten.
While the exact origins of the combination Willadean are unclear, it is possible that it was created by blending the two names to form a unique and distinctive feminine name. The earliest recorded examples of Willadean as a given name appear to be from the early 20th century in the United States.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Willadean was Willadean Jennings (1901-1996), an American writer and journalist who was born in Texas. She worked for various newspapers and magazines throughout her career and authored several books, including "The Texas Woman" and "The Texas Fact Book."
Another notable Willadean was Willadean Waller (1918-2001), an American businesswoman and philanthropist from Arkansas. She co-founded the Waller Trucking Company and was actively involved in various charitable organizations in her community.
In the field of education, Willadean Peck (1921-2012) was a notable figure. She was an American educator and administrator who served as the president of Golden Gate University in San Francisco, California, from 1976 to 1991.
Willadean Rutherford (1923-2010) was an American politician from Kentucky. She served as the Secretary of State of Kentucky from 1980 to 1988 and was the first woman to hold that position in the state's history.
Lastly, Willadean Whitford (1923-2019) was an American artist and educator from Oklahoma. She was known for her landscape paintings and taught art at various colleges and universities throughout her career.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who bore the given name Willadean throughout the 20th century. While not a widely popular name, it has a distinctive and unique quality that reflects its blend of English name elements.
People
Willadean + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Willadean 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
Willadean: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Willadean?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 185 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Willadean 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 1,852,726 US residents.
Is Willadean a common name?
We classify Willadean as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 894 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Willadean most popular?
The single biggest year for Willadean was 1924, when 51 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Willadean is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Willadean in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 410 people with the name Willadean, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,765 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 Willadean 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 Willadean?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Willadean appears almost entirely female. Of the 412 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Willadean?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Willadean is White at 88.3%. The next largest groups are Black (7.8%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Willadean most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Willadean in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.3% (362 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 Willadean in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Willadean a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Willadean 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 Willadean still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Willadean 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 Willadean 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 Willadean?
See how many people have the name Willadean on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.