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Willie vs Wilmoth

American parents have registered 596,385 Willies since 1880, against 208 Wilmoths. Willie is still ahead, with 156 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Willie against Wilmoth, 1880 to 2025 0 3k 6k 9k 12k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Willie Wilmoth

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

Willie has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1909, when Willie had 3,724 and Wilmoth had 9.

Side by side

  Willie Wilmoth
Total US births 596,385208
Most in one year 11,07121
Babies in 2025 156under 5
Estimated living today 205,0009
Median age today 6890
Peak year 19471927
Best rank 42nd boys2,552nd girls
Rank in 2025 1,315thunranked
First recorded 18801909
Girls / boys 146,197 / 450,188178 / 30

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 Wilmoths alive today are over 90; half the Willies are over 68. That is 22 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: Willie and Wilmoth.