Billi
Feminine · “resolute protection”
Billi is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 1,741 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
This short form already had two endings and this is the third. Billy reads as a man's, Billie reads as a woman's, and Billi reads as neither — which is presumably the point, since the record holds it for both and the letter that usually settles the question has been replaced with one that does not.
How old is the name Billi?
Billi first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Billi alive today was born around 1975, making them about 50 years old. About 1,600 people named Billi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Billi most popular?
Billi peaked in 1976, reaching #1297 nationally. See the whole 1976 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From William to Billi
The story of Billi
The b in Bill has no phonetic explanation at all. William gives Will, and Will should not give Bill — nothing in English turns a w into a b — and the standard account is a medieval habit of making rhyming nicknames: Will became Bill the way Rob became Bob, Rick became Dick and Meg became Peg. Nobody quite knows why the habit existed or why it stopped, and the results are now so familiar that the oddity is invisible. Four of the commonest English men's names are built on a joke nobody can date.
Meaningscholars disagree
resolute protection, at some distance
The Germanic elements behind William stand at the far end. Whether a given bearer's name came through him or through Wilhelmina cannot be recovered, and the sense arrives thin either way.
How the name formed
- William
- Billie
- Billi
Pronouncing Billi
BIL-ee
Two syllables with the stress at the front. All three endings are said identically; the differences are entirely visual.
Nicknames for Billi
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 197181 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1297reached in 1976
- Change vs 2019
- −25.0%6 in 2020, from 8
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Billis among us
people named Billi are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Billi sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is short, brisk and completely easy on first hearing.
- It works across the sexes without the ending forcing a reading.
- The spelling can only be read one way.
- Billie and Billy are both commoner and this gets corrected.
- The spelling is recorded for a few boys, but nearly every child with it is a girl.
- It reads as a short form to most people even when it is the legal name.
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What they receive
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Billi
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Billis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Billi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Billi in 2025?
- Billi is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Billi with classmates?
- Billi will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More B names
The most-given names starting with B, all years combined.
Barbara#968 · Betty#1113 · Brenda#1525 · Beverly#1016 · Brittany#928 · Bonnie#396 · Brianna#222 · Bertha#4546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Billi? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Billi and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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