Willis
Feminine · “of Will's family”
Willis is given to boys far more often — 52,336 boys against 818 girls since 1880. See Willis as a boy name
Willis is one of the old English surnames built on Will, and it has been a first name in America for as long as there have been American records. Two things have kept it in front of the public: a very tall building in Chicago, and the engineer who made summer indoors bearable.
How old is the name Willis?
Willis first appears in US birth records in 1887 — 138 years ago. The typical Willis alive today was born around 1929, making them about 96 years old. About 200 people named Willis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Willis most popular?
Willis peaked in 1901, reaching #1136 nationally. See the whole 1901 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From William to Willis
The story of Willis
Willis Carrier was a young engineer given a printing problem: a Brooklyn lithographer could not hold color registration in summer because the paper swelled and shrank with the humidity. Carrier worked out that if he passed the air over chilled coils he could take the water out of it, and in doing so he invented the modern air conditioner, though it took decades for anyone to think of pointing it at people rather than at paper. Much later, and for a quite unrelated reason, the tallest building in America changed its name: a London insurance brokerage took over the lease of the Sears Tower and the tower became the Willis Tower, to the lasting irritation of Chicago, which mostly declined to go along with it.
Meaning
of Will's family
The name behind it is William, which joins the old words for will and helmet. Willis is the surname formed from the short form Will, and the sense is not disputed.
How the name formed
- William
- Will
- Willis
Pronouncing Willis
WIL-iss
Two syllables with the stress in front and a crisp s at the end. Nobody has ever needed it spelled twice.
Nicknames for Willis
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
- 1887
- Most girls named
- 192332 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1136reached in 1901
- Change vs 1965
- 0.0%5 in 1989, from 5
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.
Williss among us
people named Willis 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
Willis 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 has an unbroken record in American use going back to the very beginning of the birth statistics.
- Will is available from the first day and needs no explaining anywhere in the English-speaking world.
- It is spelled exactly as it sounds, which is more than most surnames used as first names can claim.
- It reads as a surname to many people, and as a surname belonging to an older generation to many more.
- This spelling goes overwhelmingly to boys but is recorded for girls as well, so the occasional form will guess wrong in the other direction.
- A famous television catchphrase attached itself to the name for one generation, and that generation has long memories.
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Willis
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Williss 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 Willis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Willis in 2025?
- Willis is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Willis with classmates?
- Willis 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 Willis? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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