Willa

girls’ nameComebackCompare

Willa is ranked 423rd among girls in 2024 (729 births). Its best rank was 274th, in 1932.

Rank in 2024: #423up 5 from 2023
Births in 2024: 7290.05% of girls
Peak year: 2019889 births
Best rank: #274in 1932
Since 1880: 32,077people given the name

Babies named Willa, by year of birthgirls

The story in the numbers

32,077 girls have been named Willa in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 2019, with 889 births.

This is a comeback. After an early peak the name fell to a fraction of its former share, and it has been climbing again for the past decade.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1946, and the 2010s alone account for 18%. It has spent 98 of 145 years in the top 1,000.

Rank among girls, year by year

Higher on the chart = more popularrank (gaps = outside the top 1,000)

By decade

Decade	girls named Willa
1880s	239
1890s	527
1900s	890
1910s	2,669
1920s	4,792
1930s	4,441
1940s	3,415
1950s	2,118
1960s	956
1970s	333
1980s	283
1990s	404
2000s	1,344
2010s	5,652
2020s	4,014

In 2019, its biggest year

Willa was the 356th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 2019 were Olivia, Emma, Ava, Sophia and Isabella. See all of 2019.

Names that rose and fell with Willa

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.