Wallis
Feminine · “a foreigner”
Wallis is given to both — 573 girls and 625 boys since 1880. See Wallis as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Germanic speakers had one word for the people on the other side of the line — Celts first, then Romans, then anyone Latin-speaking. That word was walhaz, and it is scattered across the map of Europe: Wales, Welsh, Cornwall, Wallonia, Wallachia. Even the walnut is the foreign nut.
How old is the name Wallis?
Wallis first appears in US birth records in 1936 — 89 years ago. The typical Wallis alive today was born around 1961, making them about 64 years old. About 500 people named Wallis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Wallis most popular?
Wallis peaked in 1937, reaching #1255 nationally. Today it ranks #10917, 9,662 places below that high. See the whole 1937 chart.
Where it comes from
From walhaz to Wallis
The story of Wallis
Walhaz began as the name of one Celtic people and became the general Germanic word for anyone who spoke Celtic or Latin — that is, for everyone who was not one of us. It left deposits everywhere Germanic speakers pressed against Latin ones: Wales and Welsh in Britain, Cornwall in the southwest, Wallonia in Belgium, Wallachia in Romania, Welschland in old Swiss German for the French-speaking cantons. The English surname is the same word, and it went to America in the ordinary way. It became a woman's name in one year and for one reason: the American woman for whom a British king gave up his throne in 1936 was called Wallis, and the whole world heard the name at once.
Meaning
a foreigner; a Welshman
From Anglo-Norman waleis, a Welshman or a Celtic-speaking Briton, from Germanic walhaz, a stranger. It became the surname Wallace and Wallis. The word originally named a Celtic tribe the Germanic peoples met, and was then applied to everyone on the far side, which is how words for foreigner usually work.
How the name formed
- walhaz
- waleis
- Wallace
- Wallis
Related forms: Wallace
Pronouncing Wallis
WOL-iss
Two syllables, stress on the first. Wallis and Wallace are said identically in most American mouths; only the spelling distinguishes them, and the -is ending is the one used for women.
Nicknames for Wallis
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
- 1936
- Most girls named
- 193733 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1255reached in 1937
- Change vs 2024
- −27.3%8 in 2025, from 11
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.
Wallis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Wallace in Scottish — same name
Walliss among us
people named Wallis are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 200,908 born in 2025 was named Wallis
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Ethelda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Wallis's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ethelda climbed just as high around 1920, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ethelda's path sketches the road Wallis is walking now.
Wallis 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
Wallis beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Wallis in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Germanic root with visible descendants on the map of four countries.
- It serves either child, and has done since it became a given name.
- Two syllables that everyone can say on first sight.
- It is closely tied to one twentieth-century figure and a constitutional crisis, and older readers will make the connection.
- Wallace is the commoner spelling and is read as a man's name.
- The meaning is foreigner, which is either a good story about names or an uncomfortable one.
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What they receive
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Wallis
Feminine · #10917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Walliss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Wallis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Wallis in 2025?
- Wallis ranks #10917 among US girl names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Wallis?
- About 1 in every 200,908 US girls born in 2025 was named Wallis — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Wallis with classmates?
- Wallis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Wallis
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Edythe#10917 · Tessie#10917 · Drusilla#10917 · Eugenie#10917 · Ivah#10917 · Karri#10917 · Claribel#10917 · Myrtle#10917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Wallis? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Wallis and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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