Wallace
Feminine · “a Welshman”
Wallace is given to boys far more often — 83,263 boys against 588 girls since 1880. See Wallace as a boy name
Wallace means foreigner, and the foreigners in question were the Britons. Germanic speakers used a word for the Celtic and Roman peoples they found already in place, and it survives all over the map — in Wales, in Cornwall, in Walloon, in Wallachia. It survives on the table too: a walnut is the foreign nut, as opposed to the hazel, which grew at home.
How old is the name Wallace?
Wallace first appears in US birth records in 1898 — 127 years ago. The typical Wallace alive today was born around 1936, making them about 89 years old. About 200 people named Wallace are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Wallace most popular?
Wallace peaked in 1898, reaching #1700 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 11,508 places below that high. See the whole 1898 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From walhaz to Wallace
The story of Wallace
William Wallace led the Scottish resistance to Edward the First, won at Stirling Bridge, lost at Falkirk, and was executed in London in 1305 in a manner designed to be memorable; the name has carried him ever since. It became a first name in Scotland and then across the English-speaking world, and American records show it at its height in the early 1920s. It has never entirely gone away, which is unusual for a name so firmly attached to one figure.
Meaning
a Welshman; a foreigner
From the Anglo-Norman waleis, from a Germanic word meaning a foreigner or, specifically, a speaker of Celtic or Latin. In Scotland the surname was given to families from the Welsh-speaking kingdom of Strathclyde, so a Scottish Wallace was a Briton among Gaels. The same root gives Wales, Cornwall, Walloon and walnut.
How the name formed
- walhaz
- waleis
- Wallace
Related forms: Gallois · Wallis
Pronouncing Wallace
WAH-lus
Two syllables, stress on the first, the second reduced. Nothing about the spelling causes difficulty in any English-speaking country.
Nicknames for Wallace
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
- 1898
- Most girls named
- 191819 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1700reached in 1898
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%6 in 2025, from 6
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.
Wallace in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gallois in French — related form
- Wallis in Scots — spelling variant
Wallaces among us
people named Wallace are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Wallace
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Wallace sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Wallace beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Wallace in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The etymology is genuinely interesting and connects the name to half a dozen words on the map and in the kitchen.
- It has a documented national hero behind it with a well-recorded life.
- Wally and Ace are both available and could hardly be more different.
- It is spelled the way it sounds and survives a phone call intact.
- Wally carries a British slang meaning that a traveling adult will discover.
- It belongs strongly to an early twentieth-century generation, though such names are returning.
- Nearly every child given this spelling is a boy; the record's girls are very few.
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Wallace
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Wallaces are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Wallace are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Wallace in 2025?
- Wallace ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Wallace?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Wallace — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Wallace with classmates?
- Wallace will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Wallace
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Wallace? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Wallace and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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