Willis
Masculine · “of Will's family”
Willis is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 52,336 boys against 818 girls since 1880. See Willis as a girl 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 was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Willis alive today was born around 1933, making them about 92 years old. About 17,000 people named Willis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Willis most popular?
Willis peaked in 1880, reaching #86 nationally. Today it ranks #2539, 2,453 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.
Willis appears on this list:
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 19241,261 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #86reached in 1880
- Change vs 2022
- +18.2%52 in 2025, from 44
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.
Willis in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Ohio, California, Indiana.
Williss among us
people named Willis are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 32,848 born in 2025 was named Willis
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Willis 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 Willis is headed
Willis should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Willis beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Willis in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
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
Masculine · #2539 in the U.S.
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 17,000 people named Willis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Willis in 2025?
- Willis ranks #2539 among US boy names in 2025, with 52 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Willis?
- About 1 in every 32,848 US boys born in 2025 was named Willis — 52 in all.
- Will my child share the name Willis with classmates?
- Willis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Willis
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Yanis#2539 · Ebenezer#2539 · Mazen#2539 · Ziyad#2539 · Mercer#2539 · Ramy#2539 · Konnor#2539 · Luigi#2539
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Willis? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Willis and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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