Willer
A name of English origin meaning "one with a strong determination".
Name Census estimates that about 8 living Americans carry the first name Willer. It is a predominantly female name (94.6% of registrations). The average person named Willer today is around 95 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Willer births was 1925 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Willer. 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 Willer is about 95 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Willers were born before 1941.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Willer. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
8
~ 1 in 42,844,292 Americans
Peak year
1925
12 babies that year
Average age
95
years old
1924 SSA rank
#4,950
Tracked since 1901
Census
Willer in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 186 people with the first name Willer, which placed it at #40,168 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
#40,168
National first-name rank
People counted
186
186 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
44.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Willer
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Willer is Black at 44.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.7%) and White (22.6%). 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 Willer 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 Willer at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American44.6% · 83
- Hispanic or Latino24.7% · 46
- White22.6% · 42
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.5% · 12
- Two or more races1.1% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Willer
Willer leans heavily female at 94.6% of total registrations, but 5 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Willer as a male name
- Ranked #4,950 in 1924
- 5 male births in 1924
- Peak: 1924 (5 births)
Willer as a female name
- Ranked #5,075 in 1941
- 5 female births in 1941
- Peak: 1925 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Willer on both sides of the split. Of the 188 people counted with this name, 132 were male (70.2%) and 56 were female (29.8%).
Popularity
Willer: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Willer from the 1900s through to the 1940s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 35 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
Willer 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 Willer during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Willer
The name Willer is a German variant of the more common name Wilhelm. It originated in the 9th century as a compound of the Germanic elements "wil" meaning "will" or "desire," and "helm" meaning "helmet" or "protector." Together, Willer translates to "resolute protector" or "strong-willed guardian."
In the Middle Ages, the name Willer was particularly prevalent in the regions of present-day Germany and the Netherlands, where it was borne by several notable figures. One of the earliest recorded instances was Willer von Oldenburg, a 12th-century German nobleman and crusader who participated in the Third Crusade under Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
The name also appears in religious texts from the medieval period, such as the "Willeramus Vita Sancti Lamberti," a 12th-century hagiography (saint's life) written by a monk named Willeramus about Saint Lambert of Maastricht.
Among the more famous historical figures named Willer was Willer von Starkenburg, a 14th-century German knight and military commander who fought in the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines in Italy.
Another notable bearer of the name was Willer Snoeyinck (c. 1495-1567), a Dutch Renaissance painter and engraver known for his religious works and portraits of the Dutch nobility.
In the 17th century, Willer Codde (1594-1638) was a Dutch Catholic priest and controversialist who played a significant role in the Jansenist controversy, a theological dispute within the Catholic Church over the nature of free will and divine grace.
While the name Willer has largely fallen out of common usage in modern times, it remains a part of the rich tapestry of Germanic naming traditions and a testament to the cultural heritage of the regions where it once thrived.
People
Willer + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Willer 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
Willer: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Willer?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Willer 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 42,844,292 US residents.
Is Willer a common name?
We classify Willer as "Very Rare". It ranks above 24.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 92 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Willer most popular?
The single biggest year for Willer was 1925, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Willer is about 95 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Willer in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 186 people with the name Willer, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,168 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 Willer 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 Willer?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Willer on both sides of the split. Of the 188 people counted with this name, 132 were male (70.2%) and 56 were female (29.8%). 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 Willer?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Willer is Black at 44.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.7%) and White (22.6%). 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 Willer most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Willer in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.6% (83 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 Willer in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Willer a female name?
Yes, 94.6% of people registered as Willer 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 Willer still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Willer 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 Willer 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 people share the name Willer?
Want to know how many people have the name Willer? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.