Williams
Williams is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 53 births. Its best rank was 515th, in 1887.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 530.00% of boys
- Peak year
- 195086 births
- Best rank
- #515in 1887
- Since 1880
- 6,086people given the name
The story in the numbers
6,086 boys have been named Williams in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1950, with 86 births.
It is rising: its share of births is at least one and a half times what it was ten years ago.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1959, and the 1950s alone account for 10.0%. It has spent 74 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Williams | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 101 | |
| 1890s | 106 | |
| 1900s | 134 | |
| 1910s | 386 | |
| 1920s | 603 | |
| 1930s | 547 | |
| 1940s | 573 | |
| 1950s | 606 | |
| 1960s | 510 | |
| 1970s | 404 | |
| 1980s | 383 | |
| 1990s | 494 | |
| 2000s | 580 | |
| 2010s | 426 | |
| 2020s | 233 |
In 1950, its biggest year
Williams was the 746th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1950 were James, Robert, John, Michael and David. See all of 1950.
Names that rose and fell with Williams
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Raleighpeak 1921
- Ulyssespeak 1999
- Richmondpeak 1921
- Reubenpeak 1920
- Emorypeak 1920
- Corneliuspeak 1974
- Edgarpeak 2005
- Harleypeak 1994
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.