Willa
Feminine · “From the Germanic wil- 'will”
Willa is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 32,824 girls against 24 boys since 1880.
Willa comes from the enormous Germanic family that gave us William — the same wil- that means will or desire, softened at the end into two easy syllables. It has been on the American record continuously for well over a century, quiet in every decade but never absent, and it reached its widest use in the years between the world wars. Said aloud it is almost all vowel: WIL-uh, over before you finish saying it.
How old is the name Willa?
Willa was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Willa alive today was born around 1948, making them about 77 years old. About 19,000 people named Willa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Willa most popular?
Willa peaked in 1932, reaching #273 nationally. Today it ranks #422, 149 places below that high. See the whole 1932 chart.
Willa appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Willahelm to Willa
The story of Willa
The root is old Germanic: wil-, 'will' or 'desire', one half of the compound Willahelm that became Wilhelm in German and William in England after 1066. Feminine forms followed the masculine everywhere the name traveled — Wilhelmina in German and Dutch, Guillermina in Spanish — and Willa emerged as the clipped, speakable end of that line. It arrived in the United States with German, Dutch and Scandinavian families in the nineteenth century, and English speakers took to it easily because the sound was already familiar from William. It has never needed a revival to stay in circulation; it simply thinned out and thickened again as fashions moved around it.
Meaning
From the Germanic wil- 'will, desire'; through Wilhelmina, 'resolute protection'
Willa reaches English by two roads that both lead to the same Germanic root: as a short form of Wilhelmina (wil- 'will' plus helm 'helmet, protection') and as a feminine counterpart to William. Old English also used willa as a name element meaning 'will, desire'.
How the name formed
- Willahelm
- Wilhelm
- Wilhelmina
- Willa
Related forms: Wilhelmine · Willemina · Wilma · Guillermina · Guglielma · Guillemette
Pronouncing Willa
WIL-uh
Two syllables, stress on the first, rhyming with 'filler'. Occasionally heard as WEE-la by speakers of languages where i takes the long value, but the English pronunciation is settled.
Nicknames for Willa
High
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 2019889 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #273reached in 1932
- Change vs 2022
- −6.2%742 in 2025, from 791
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.
Willa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Wilhelmine in German — related form
- Willemina in Dutch — related form
- Wilma in Dutch/German — related form
- Guillermina in Spanish — related form
- Guglielma in Italian — related form
- Guillemette in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Willas among us
people named Willa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 2,166 born in 2025 was named Willa
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 Oma test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Willa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Oma climbed just as high around 1901, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Oma's path sketches the road Willa is walking now.
Willa 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
Where Willa is headed
Willa should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Willa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Willa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, phonetic and spelled the way it sounds — most people get it right the first time in writing.
- It sits one sound away from Willow, a much more common name right now, and the two get confused constantly in speech and on rosters. Expect to repeat it.
- Wilma and Willa are also easily swapped by ear, particularly over the phone.
- Its widest use was generations ago, so most people currently carrying it are well into adulthood — some listeners will place it as an older name rather than a new one.
- The obvious short forms, Will and Willie, both lean masculine in American use, which may or may not suit you.
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What they receive
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Willa
Feminine · #422 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Willas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 19,000 people named Willa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Willa in 2025?
- Willa ranks #422 among US girl names in 2025, with 742 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Willa?
- About 1 in every 2,166 US girls born in 2025 was named Willa — 742 in all.
- Will my child share the name Willa with classmates?
- Willa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Willa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dorothy#421 · Opal#423 · Sarai#424 · Marceline#424 · Melissa#419 · Joy#419 · Harley#418 · Winter#426
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Willa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Willa and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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