Willis
A Germanic masculine name meaning "resolute will" or "determined protector".
Name Census estimates that about 18,317 living Americans carry the first name Willis. It is a predominantly male name (98.5% of registrations). The average person named Willis today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Willis births was 1924 (1,276 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Willis. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Willis with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Willis is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 822 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Willis have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
18K
~ 1 in 18,712 Americans
Peak year
1924
1,276 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,701
Tracked since 1880
Census
Willis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 17,369 people with the first name Willis, which placed it at #1,743 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
#1,743
National first-name rank
People counted
17K
17,369 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Willis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Willis is White at 66.9%. The next largest groups are Black (24.6%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). 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 Willis 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 Willis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.9% · 11,614
- Black or African American24.6% · 4,273
- Two or more races2.7% · 463
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 420
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 372
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 227
Gender
Gender distribution for Willis
Willis leans heavily male at 98.5% of total registrations, but 822 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Willis as a male name
- Ranked #2,701 in 2024
- 49 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1924 (1,261 births)
Willis as a female name
- Ranked #14,505 in 1989
- 5 female births in 1989
- Peak: 1923 (32 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Willis leans strongly male. 17,124 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 243 female bearers (1.4%).
Popularity
Willis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Willis from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 11,944 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
Willis 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 Willis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Willis' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, Ohio recorded the most babies named Willis, while Alaska, Vermont, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 905 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Willis
Willis is an English given name derived from the Germanic name Willahelm, which means "will helmet" or "resolute protection." The name has its roots in the Old German words "wil" (will) and "helm" (helmet or protector).
The name Willis first appeared in England during the Middle Ages, around the 12th century. It was a common name among the Anglo-Saxons and became popular after the Norman Conquest of 1066.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Willis can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a survey of landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The name appeared several times in this historical record.
In the 13th century, Willis was mentioned in the Curia Regis Rolls, a collection of legal records from the royal court of England. The name was also found in various medieval charters and documents from that period.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Willis. One of the earliest was Willis de Braose (c. 1150-1210), a prominent Anglo-Norman baron and Lord of Gower in Wales.
Another historical figure was Willis Browne (1608-1692), an English clergyman and author who wrote several books on natural history and theology.
In the 18th century, Willis Hill (1718-1808) was an English mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the field of celestial mechanics.
Willis Richardson (1819-1897) was an American politician and military officer who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Willis Carrier (1876-1950) was an American engineer and inventor, best known for inventing modern air conditioning.
While the name Willis has its roots in England and was primarily used in the English-speaking world, it has also been adopted in other cultures and languages over time. However, its origins can be traced back to the Germanic languages and the Old English period, when it first emerged as a given name for boys.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Willis
People
Willis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Willis 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
Willis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Willis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 18,317 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Willis 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 18,712 US residents.
Is Willis a common name?
We classify Willis as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 53,105 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Willis most popular?
The single biggest year for Willis was 1924, when 1,276 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Willis is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Willis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 17,369 people with the name Willis, or 5.75 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,743 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 Willis 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 Willis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Willis leans strongly male. 17,124 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 243 female bearers (1.4%). 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 Willis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Willis is White at 66.9%. The next largest groups are Black (24.6%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). 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 Willis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Willis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.9% (11,614 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 Willis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Willis a male name?
Yes, 98.5% of people registered as Willis 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 Willis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Willis 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 Willis 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 Willis?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.