Willi
A masculine diminutive of William, a Germanic name meaning "resolute protector".
Name Census estimates that about 118 living Americans carry the first name Willi. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Willi today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Willi births was 1958 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Willi. 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
118
~ 1 in 2,904,698 Americans
Peak year
1958
10 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2008 SSA rank
#12,479
Tracked since 1919
Census
Willi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,019 people with the first name Willi, which placed it at #12,264 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
#12,264
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,019 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Willi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Willi is White at 44.6%. The next largest groups are Black (31.0%) and Hispanic (18.5%). 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 Willi 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 Willi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.6% · 454
- Black or African American31.0% · 316
- Hispanic or Latino18.5% · 189
- Two or more races2.8% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 7
Popularity
Willi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Willi from the 1910s through to the 2000s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 34 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Willi remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Willi 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 Willi 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 Willi
The given name Willi has its origins in the Germanic languages and can be traced back to the Old High German name Willahelm, which was composed of the elements willi (meaning "will" or "desire") and helm (meaning "helmet" or "protection"). This name later evolved into Wilhelm, which became a common name across various Germanic regions during the Middle Ages.
Willi is a shortened form of Wilhelm, and it gained popularity as a standalone name in the 19th century, particularly in German-speaking countries. The name was also adopted in other cultures and languages, with variations such as Willie, Willy, and Willi appearing in English, Dutch, and Scandinavian contexts, respectively.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Willi can be found in the medieval German epic poem "Nibelungenlied," where a character named Willi is mentioned. Additionally, the name appears in various historical records and documents from the Middle Ages onwards, indicating its widespread usage among the Germanic peoples.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Willi. One of the most famous was Willi Baumeister (1889-1955), a German painter and sculptor who played a significant role in the development of abstract art in the early 20th century. Another notable figure was Willi Münzenberg (1889-1940), a German communist activist and propagandist who played a crucial role in the international communist movement during the interwar period.
In the realm of literature, Willi Winkler (1914-1984) was a German author and poet known for his works that explored the themes of marginalization and social injustice. In the field of science, Willi Ley (1906-1969) was a German-American science writer and space advocate who made significant contributions to popularizing space exploration and rocketry.
The name Willi also gained prominence in the world of sports, with Willi Holdorf (1940-2020) being a renowned German Olympic athlete who won gold medals in the decathlon and long jump events during the 1964 and 1968 Olympic Games.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Willi throughout history, showcasing its enduring presence and significance across various cultural and professional domains.
People
Willi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Willi 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
Willi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Willi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 118 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Willi 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 2,904,698 US residents.
Is Willi a common name?
We classify Willi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 144 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Willi most popular?
The single biggest year for Willi was 1958, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Willi is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Willi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,019 people with the name Willi, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,264 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 Willi 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 Willi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Willi leans strongly male. 869 people counted with this name were male (85.3%), compared with 150 female bearers (14.7%). 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 Willi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Willi is White at 44.6%. The next largest groups are Black (31.0%) and Hispanic (18.5%). 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 Willi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Willi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.6% (454 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 Willi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Willi a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Willi 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 Willi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Willi 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 Willi 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 have the name Willi?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Willi, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.