Find out how popular the last name Wally is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Wally.

Wally, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Wally surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Wally in America

Wally is the 42378th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Wally surname appeared 512 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Wally.

We can also compare 2010 data for Wally to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Wally

The surname Wally is of Germanic origin, derived from the medieval personal name Walho, which meant "foreigner" or "stranger." It first appeared in the regions of what is now southern Germany and northern Switzerland during the Middle Ages.

The earliest recorded instance of the name dates back to the 12th century in the town of Weil der Stadt, near Stuttgart, Germany. In 1189, a knight named Walho von Weil was mentioned in a local chronicle for his service in the Third Crusade.

Over time, the name evolved into various spellings, such as Walli, Wallie, and Wally. It spread to other parts of Europe, including England, where it is believed to have arrived with German mercenaries during the Hundred Years' War in the 14th century.

One notable bearer of the name was Sir William Wally, a 15th-century English knight and landowner from Hertfordshire. He was recognized for his military service during the Wars of the Roses and was granted the manor of Pishiobury by King Edward IV in 1464.

In Scotland, the Wally surname has been associated with the town of Wanlockhead in Dumfries and Galloway, where a family of that name owned mining operations in the 16th and 17th centuries. The most prominent member was George Wally (1576-1654), a successful mine owner and benefactor who endowed a school in the town.

In the Netherlands, the name Wally has been traced back to the village of Waalwijk, which means "settlement of the Walloons" (French-speaking people from modern-day Belgium and northern France). One of the earliest recorded Wallys was Jan Wally, a merchant who lived in Amsterdam in the late 16th century.

Other notable individuals with the surname Wally include Johann Wally (1765-1835), an Austrian painter and engraver known for his landscapes and religious works, and James Wally (1805-1881), an Irish-born Australian explorer and surveyor who played a significant role in the early exploration of Western Australia.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Wally

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Wally.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Wally was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Wally has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Wally was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Wally, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!