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Girl or boy · English and Scottish pet form of a Germanic name
Willie
Say it: WIL-ee
Meaning
For boys a pet form of William, for girls of Wilhelmina; both from Germanic wil 'will, desire' and helm 'helmet, protection'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Given as a full name to both boys and girls in the US from the 1880s, especially in the South.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1910s
In the United States
- 595,556 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1910, about 1 in 67 boys
- 211 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Willy
Famous bearers
- Willie Mays, American baseball player
- Willie Nelson, American singer
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- National census records of the 19th and 20th centuries
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.