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Willow vs Wiltz

American parents have registered 65,560 Willows since 1880, against 7 Wiltzes. Willow is still ahead, with 4,786 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Willow against Wiltz, 1880 to 2025 0 1.5k 3k 4.5k 6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Willow Wiltz

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

Willow has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1890 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1940, when Willow had 16 and Wiltz had 7.

Side by side

  Willow Wiltz
Total US births 65,5607
Most in one year 5,2317
Babies in 2025 4,786under 5
Estimated living today 64,0002
Median age today 685
Peak year 20211940
Best rank 39th girls2,871st boys
Rank in 2025 44thunranked
First recorded 18901940
Girls / boys 65,095 / 4650 / 7

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 Wiltzes alive today are over 85; half the Willows are over 6. That is 79 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: Willow and Wiltz.