In the early 1900s, the baby name Wilba popped up on the SSA’s baby name list for the first time:
- 1915: 7 baby girls named Wilba
- 1914: 7 baby girls named Wilba
- 1913: 18 baby girls named Wilba [debut]
- 1912: unlisted
- 1911: unlisted
It was the top debut name of 1913, along with Vilas. But SSA numbers from the early 1900s aren’t too reliable, so let’s see how many Wilbas are in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) for the same time period:
- 1915: 8 people named Wilba
- 1914: 7 people named Wilba
- 1913: 32 people named Wilba
- 1912: 3 people named Wilba
- 1911: 4 people named Wilba
The SSA data shows that several wil- names were on the rise during these years, but this doesn’t explain the sudden appearance of Wilba.
Name | 1911 | 1912 | 1913 | 1914 | 1915 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wilba | – | – | 18 | 7 | 7 |
Wilberta | – | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 |
Wilbur (f) | – | 7 | 5 | 8 | – |
Wilda | 89 | 137 | 133 | 177 | 261 |
Willow | – | 6 | 12 | 11 | 23 |
Wilma | 914 | 1241 | 1469 | 1787 | 2773 |
Wilna | 9 | 9 | 17 | 23 | 18 |
Neither set of data shows a strong tie to any specific location, though the SSDI data suggests that Wilba was used more often in the south than in the north.
Any idea where this one could have come from?