Names/B

Bill

boys’ nameFadedCompare

Bill is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 22 births. Its best rank was 57th, in 1931.

Rank in 2024
outside the top 1,000
Births in 2024
220.00% of boys
Peak year
19474,681 births
Best rank
#57in 1931
Since 1880
160,457people given the name
Babies named Bill, by year of birthboys
01.3k2.5k3.8k5k18801900192019401960198020002020

The story in the numbers

160,457 boys have been named Bill in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1947, with 4,681 births — 0.26% of all boys recorded that year.

The name has all but left use: 22 births in 2024, against 4,681 at the peak.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1944, and the 1940s alone account for 24%. It has spent 114 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 29 of them in the top 100.

Rank among boys, year by year

Higher on the chart = more popularrank (gaps = outside the top 1,000)
#1#250#500#750#100018801900192019401960198020002020

By decade

Decadeboys named Bill
1880s600
1890s789
1900s1,513
1910s6,599
1920s22,289
1930s32,336
1940s37,756
1950s23,878
1960s25,134
1970s5,205
1980s1,815
1990s1,153
2000s845
2010s423
2020s122

In 1947, its biggest year

Bill was the 76th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1947 were James, Robert, John, William and Richard. See all of 1947.

Names that rose and fell with Bill

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.