Wallis
Masculine · “a foreigner”
Wallis is given to both — 625 boys and 573 girls since 1880. See Wallis as a girl 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 1911 — 114 years ago. The typical Wallis alive today was born around 1936, making them about 89 years old. About 200 people named Wallis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Wallis most popular?
Wallis peaked in 1940, reaching #1311 nationally. See the whole 1940 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
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
- 1911
- Most boys named
- 193622 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1311reached in 1940
- Change vs 1972
- 0.0%6 in 1977, 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.
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
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Wallis 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
- 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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Wallis
Masculine
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 200 people named Wallis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Wallis in 2025?
- Wallis is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Wallis with classmates?
- Wallis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More W names
The most-given names starting with W, all years combined.
William#9 · Walter#251 · Willie#1315 · Wayne#652 · Wesley#52 · Wyatt#38 · Warren#240 · Wallace#960
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Wallis? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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