How Many People Are Named Willa?
An estimated 16,451 people in the United States have the first name Willa. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 30 years old, and Willa peaked in popularity in 2019 with 889 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Willa as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Willa paired with any surname.
Estimated Living Americans
16,451
About 1 in 20,835 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Female
99.9% confidence
Average Age
30
years old
Peak Year
2019
889 births
Total Registered
32,101
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Willa
Willa is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 32,101 total births registered, 99.9% were female.
Willa as a male name
Ranked #3,511 in 1937
6 male births in 1937
Peak: 1929 (7 births)
Willa as a female name
Ranked #423 in 2024
729 female births in 2024
Peak: 2019 (889 births)
Willa: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Willa span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 2010s, when 5,652 babies were registered. While Willa is less common than at its peak in the 2010s, it remains a well-established name with steady registrations.
Willa by Decade
How has Willa tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Willa by State
Birth registrations for Willa span all 49 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in North Carolina, Missouri, Tennessee. The lowest are in Wyoming, New Mexico, Alaska. On average, about 539 Willas were registered per state.
Willa + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Willa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Willa
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
Willa: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Willa?
We estimate approximately 16,451 people named Willa are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 20,835 Americans share this first name.
Is Willa a common name?
Willa is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 98.3% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 32,101 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Willa most popular?
Willa reached peak popularity in 2019, when 889 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Willa is approximately 30 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Willa a female name?
Willa is predominantly female. 99.9% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Willa Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Willa Smith, Willa Johnson, Willa Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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