Willisha
A feminine name of American origin, formed as a blend of the given names William and Alicia.
Name Census estimates that about 91 living Americans carry the first name Willisha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Willisha today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Willisha births was 1991 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Willisha. 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 Willisha. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
91
~ 1 in 3,766,531 Americans
Peak year
1991
10 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2000 SSA rank
#17,547
Tracked since 1979
Census
Willisha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 106 people with the first name Willisha, which placed it at #52,574 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
#52,574
National first-name rank
People counted
106
106 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
98.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Willisha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Willisha is Black at 98.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.9%). 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 Willisha 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 Willisha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American98.1% · 104
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 1
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 1
Popularity
Willisha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Willisha from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 54 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Willisha 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 Willisha 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 Willisha
The name Willisha is an ancient name with roots tracing back to the early medieval period in Europe. Its origins can be found in the Germanic languages, particularly in the Old High German word "willio," which means "will" or "desire." The name is believed to have emerged around the 6th century AD, during the height of the Frankish kingdom in what is now modern-day France and Germany.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Willisha can be found in the Codex Sangallensis, an 8th-century manuscript that contains a collection of texts and documents from the Abbey of St. Gallen in Switzerland. In this manuscript, the name appears in reference to a nobleman named Willisha von Rheinfelden, who lived in the region of present-day Baden-Württemberg, Germany, during the late 7th century.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Willisha gained popularity among the aristocratic classes of Europe, particularly in the Frankish and Germanic regions. It was often associated with individuals of strong character and determination, reflecting the meaning of the name itself.
One notable figure who bore the name Willisha was a Frankish noblewoman who lived in the 9th century. She was the daughter of Count Wiglaf of Saxony and is mentioned in the Annals of Fulda, a historical chronicle written by the monks of Fulda Abbey in present-day Hesse, Germany.
Another prominent individual named Willisha was a Benedictine abbess who lived in the early 11th century. She presided over the Abbey of St. Maria in Bingen, located in what is now the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Records from the abbey's chronicles suggest that Abbess Willisha played a significant role in the spiritual and cultural life of the region during her tenure.
In the 12th century, a noblewoman named Willisha von Hohenzollern is mentioned in the chronicles of the Hohenzollern dynasty, one of the most powerful noble families in Germany during the Middle Ages. She was born in 1135 and married into the House of Zähringen, another influential noble family in the region.
During the Renaissance period, the name Willisha fell out of widespread use, although it continued to appear sporadically in various historical records. One notable figure from this era was Willisha von Helfenstein, a German noblewoman born in 1482 in the town of Helfenstein, located in what is now the state of Baden-Württemberg. She is mentioned in local chronicles as a prominent figure in the region's social and cultural life.
While the name Willisha is relatively rare in modern times, it remains an intriguing part of the rich tapestry of European history, reflecting the cultural and linguistic diversity of the continent's past. Its ancient roots and associations with strength and determination serve as a reminder of the enduring legacy of names and their ability to carry stories across generations.
People
Willisha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Willisha 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
Willisha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Willisha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 91 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Willisha 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 3,766,531 US residents.
Is Willisha a common name?
We classify Willisha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 95 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Willisha most popular?
The single biggest year for Willisha was 1991, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Willisha is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Willisha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 106 people with the name Willisha, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #52,574 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 Willisha 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 Willisha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Willisha appears almost entirely female. Of the 111 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 Willisha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Willisha is Black at 98.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.9%). 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 Willisha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Willisha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.1% (104 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 Willisha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Willisha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Willisha 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 Willisha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Willisha 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 Willisha 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 common is the name Willisha?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Willisha, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.