Billye
Feminine · “resolute protector”
Billye is given to both — 3,360 girls and 112 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
The e on the end of Billye is a southern convention with a specific job: it marks a man's nickname as belonging to a woman. Billye, Bobbye, Jimmye and Frankye all appear in American records, and in every case the extra letter is doing the same piece of work.
How old is the name Billye?
Billye first appears in US birth records in 1907 — 118 years ago. The typical Billye alive today was born around 1934, making them about 91 years old. About 1,200 people named Billye are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Billye most popular?
Billye peaked in 1930, reaching #556 nationally. See the whole 1930 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From William to Billye
The story of Billye
American naming in the South spent the first half of the twentieth century giving daughters men's names, and it needed a way to signal what it had done. Sometimes the signal was a second name — Billie Jean, Bobbie Sue — and sometimes it was a letter. The e ending was the commonest device: it looks French, it changes no sound, and it appears in the record almost exclusively on women. Billye is one of the most used of them. The convention has largely lapsed, which means the spelling now dates a person almost exactly, and it also means a modern reader may not recognize what the letter was for.
Meaning
resolute protector
The name descends from William, whose two Germanic halves are a word for will or desire and a word for a helmet. The short form carries the meaning; the ending carries the sex.
How the name formed
- William
- Billie
- Billye
Pronouncing Billye
BIL-ee
Two syllables, weight at the front. The final e is silent, so Billie and Billye are said identically.
Nicknames for Billye
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
- 1907
- Most girls named
- 1929150 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #556reached in 1930
- Change vs 1989
- +40.0%7 in 2003, from 5
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.
Billyes among us
people named Billye 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
Billye 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 said correctly by everyone on first hearing.
- It sits behind one of the most-used names in European history.
- The spelling identifies it as a woman's name on paper, which the plain form does not.
- Billie is the standard spelling and will be written instead on almost every form.
- The spelling is recorded for boys as well as girls in the United States, despite the convention.
- It belongs firmly to the first half of the twentieth century.
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What they receive
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Billye
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Billyes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Billye are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Billye in 2025?
- Billye is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Billye with classmates?
- Billye 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 Billye? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Billye and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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