Will
Feminine · “resolute protector”
Will is given to boys far more often — 45,952 boys against 658 girls since 1880. See Will as a boy name
Will has been registered as a name in its own right for as long as American records have existed, not merely as a short form of the longer name behind it. It is also a legal term, and the phrase it appears in is doubled for a reason that goes back to two separate courts.
How old is the name Will?
Will first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Will alive today was born around 1920, making them about 105 years old. Fewer than a hundred people named Will are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
When was the name Will most popular?
Will peaked in 1881, reaching #679 nationally. See the whole 1881 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Willahelm to Will
The story of Will
A last will and testament says the same thing twice because English law had two systems for inheritance. Land passed under the common law, in the king's courts, and the document disposing of it was a will. Personal property — money, goods, livestock — passed under canon law, in the church courts, and the document disposing of that was a testament, from the Latin. A person with both therefore needed both instruments, and lawyers drafted a single document that named itself as each, so that neither court could refuse it. The jurisdictional split ended long ago and the phrase outlived it, which is why the doubling now looks like lawyerly padding rather than what it actually is, a scar from a boundary dispute between church and crown.
Meaning
resolute protector
The formal name joins two Germanic elements, one meaning will or desire and one meaning a helmet or protection. It arrived in England with the Conquest and became the commonest man's name in the country within a century.
How the name formed
- Willahelm
- William
- Will
Pronouncing Will
WIL
One syllable. It is also an ordinary English word, both a noun and a verb, which readers hear before they hear the name.
Nicknames for Will
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
- 1881
- Most girls named
- 191923 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #679reached in 1881
- Change vs 1957
- −16.7%5 in 1978, 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.
Wills among us
Fewer than a hundred people named Will are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Will 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 understood instantly by everybody and needs no introduction anywhere.
- One syllable is quick, clear and hard to mishear across a room.
- The formal name stands behind it for occasions that want one.
- It reads as a short form even when it is the registered name.
- It is an ordinary English word, so it turns up in sentences about the child.
- The record holds this spelling for daughters as well, though almost never.
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What they receive
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Will
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Wills are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. Fewer than a hundred people named Will are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
- How popular is the name Will in 2025?
- Will is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Will with classmates?
- Will will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More W names
The most-given names starting with W, all years combined.
Wanda#5917 · Wendy#1341 · Willie#10107 · Wilma#3645 · Whitney#1043 · Willow#44 · Winifred#922 · Willa#422
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Will? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Will and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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