Wilburt vs Willow
American parents have registered 65,560 Willows since 1880, against 1,108 Wilburts. Willow is still ahead, with 4,786 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Wilburt Willow
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 125 years in which either name was published, Willow for 94 years and Wilburt for 31 years. The lead changed hands 26 times.
- 1906–1909 Willow ahead
- 1910–1923 Wilburt ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1926–1940 Willow ahead, apart from 2 short spells
- 1941–1943 Wilburt ahead
- 1944–1948 Willow ahead
- 1949–1952 Wilburt ahead
- 1964–2025 Willow ahead
17 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Wilburt | Willow | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,108 | 65,560 |
| Most in one year | 39 | 5,231 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 4,786 |
| Estimated living today | 330 | 64,000 |
| Median age today | 69 | 6 |
| Peak year | 1920 | 2021 |
| Best rank | 1,139th boys | 39th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 44th |
| First recorded | 1903 | 1890 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 1,108 | 65,095 / 465 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Wilburts alive today are over 69; half the Willows are over 6. That is 63 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Wilburt and Willow.