Willodean
A feminine name meaning "one who desires willows or dwells by willows".
Name Census estimates that about 185 living Americans carry the first name Willodean. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Willodean today is around 84 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Willodean births was 1928 (76 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Willodean. 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 Willodean is about 84 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Willodeans were born before 1952.
People living today
185
~ 1 in 1,852,726 Americans
Peak year
1928
76 babies that year
Average age
84
years old
1958 SSA rank
#5,393
Tracked since 1914
Census
Willodean in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 387 people with the first name Willodean, which placed it at #24,748 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
#24,748
National first-name rank
People counted
387
387 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Willodean
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Willodean is White at 85.8%. The next largest groups are Black (11.1%) and Two or More Races (2.1%). 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 Willodean 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 Willodean at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.8% · 332
- Black or African American11.1% · 43
- Two or more races2.1% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
Popularity
Willodean: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Willodean from the 1910s through to the 1950s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 481 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
Willodean 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 Willodean during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Willodeans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas recorded the most babies named Willodean, while Kentucky, Indiana, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 155 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Willodean
The name Willodean is a English name with roots dating back to the Middle Ages. It is believed to be a combination of the Old English words "willa" meaning "will" or "desire," and "dean" meaning "valley" or "low ground." This suggests that the name may have originally been used to refer to someone who lived in a valley or low-lying area.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Willodean can be found in a 14th-century English census record, where it appears as "Willodeane" with a slightly different spelling. This indicates that the name was in use during the late medieval period in England.
While the name does not appear to have any direct associations with religious texts or ancient manuscripts, it does have a handful of notable bearers throughout history. One of the earliest known individuals with the name was Willodean Clements, an English landowner born in 1532 who played a minor role in the political conflicts of the Tudor period.
In the 19th century, Willodean Fairchild (1821-1899) was an American botanist and naturalist who made significant contributions to the field of plant taxonomy. Her extensive collections and research on the flora of the northeastern United States were highly regarded by her contemporaries.
Another notable bearer of the name was Willodean Hanson (1904-1986), a Swedish-American author and journalist who wrote extensively about life in rural Minnesota during the early 20th century. Her semi-autobiographical novels and short stories provided a vivid portrayal of the struggles and joys of immigrant families in the Midwest.
In the field of music, Willodean Wyatt (1926-2008) was an acclaimed American jazz singer and pianist who performed with many of the greats of the swing era, including Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Her rich vocal stylings and improvisational skills earned her widespread acclaim throughout her six-decade career.
Finally, Willodean Brewer (1942-2020) was a prominent civil rights activist and educator who worked tirelessly to promote racial equality and educational opportunities for underprivileged communities. Her leadership roles in various organizations and her dedication to empowering marginalized groups left a lasting impact on the struggle for social justice.
People
Willodean + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Willodean 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
Willodean: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Willodean?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 185 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Willodean 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 Willodean a common name?
We classify Willodean 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, 1,237 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Willodean most popular?
The single biggest year for Willodean was 1928, when 76 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Willodean is about 84 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Willodean in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 387 people with the name Willodean, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,748 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 Willodean 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 Willodean?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Willodean appears almost entirely female. Of the 382 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Willodean?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Willodean is White at 85.8%. The next largest groups are Black (11.1%) and Two or More Races (2.1%). 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 Willodean most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Willodean in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.8% (332 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 Willodean in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Willodean a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Willodean 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 Willodean still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Willodean 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 Willodean 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 Willodean?
See how many people have the name Willodean on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.