How popular is the baby name Will in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Will.

The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.


Popularity of the baby name Will


Posts that mention the name Will

Baby name predictions: Cypher, Elon, Macklemore

Which baby names will become more popular thanks to the events of 2013?

Here are some names that might catch on this year:

Macklemore
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have had a lot of luck with their singles “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us” during the first half of 2013.

Cypher & Kitai
Cypher Raige & Kitai Raige (played by Will Smith & Jaden Smith) are characters in the movie After Earth, released a week or so ago.

Armie
Armand “Armie” Hammer co-stars with Johnny Depp in The Lone Ranger, coming out next month. (He inherited his unusual name from great-grandpa Armand Hammer.)

Tesla & Elon
The Tesla Roadster and Tesla Motors co-founder Elon Musk (also known for PayPal & SpaceX) seem to be popping up in the news more and more lately.

Snowden
Speaking of names in the news…NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has been a fixture in the news for a couple of weeks now.

What other names would you add to this list?

Twin boys named for Wiley Post and Will Rogers

Will Rogers (standing on wing) and Wiley Post in Alaska (August, 1935)
Will Rogers and Wiley Post

On July 10, 1935, Bert and Irlean Ash of Oklahoma City welcomed twin sons. The boys went without names — they were “designated merely as No. 1 and No. 2” — for more than a month.

Then, on August 15, a plane crash in northern Alaska killed two fellow Oklahomans — Wiley Post and Will Rogers. Post was the pioneering aviator who’d flown solo around the world in 1933 aboard the Winnie Mae, and Rogers was a popular entertainer and social commentator of the day.

Bert and Irlean decided to honor the pair by naming their sons Wiley Rogers Ash and Will Post Ash.

Bert was quoted as saying, “We hope the twins will be able to fly sometime.”

P.S. William Penn Adair “Will” Rogers, who was part Cherokee, was named after Cherokee leader William Penn Adair.

Update, July 2023: I recently stumbled upon another set of twins named after Post and Rogers!

Will Rogers Wallace and Wiley Post Wallace were born in Kenbridge, Virginia, on January 12, 1936.

[Their mother] had decided that if her 12th child was a boy, she’d name him Will Rogers Wallace after American humorist Will Rogers, who had died in a plane crash in August 1935 in Alaska.

But when the doctor announced that she was in labor with twins…she accepted his advice to name the younger boy after Rogers’ pilot, Wiley Post, who also died in the crash.

This second set of twins inspired me to check the U.S. data on both names. Turns out that both Wiley and Will saw an uptick in usage in 1935 specifically:

Boys named WileyBoys named Will
1937222 [rank: 364th]230 [rank: 355th]
1936257 [rank: 341st]234 [rank: 353rd]
1935286 [rank: 324th]305 [rank: 311th]
1934224 [rank: 366th]215 [rank: 370th]
1933216 [rank: 369th]224 [rank: 362nd]

Which of the two names do you prefer?

Sources:

Image: Will Rogers and Wiley Post (public domain)

[Latest update: Jul. 2023]

Texas quintuplets: Will, David, Marcie, Seth, Grace

kinderfest

On August 9, Gavin and Carrie Jones of Duncanville, Texas, welcomed a set of quints — three boys and two girls:

  • Will Edward
  • David Stephen
  • Marcie Jane
  • Seth Jared
  • Grace Elise

Let’s play a game. You’re given a chance to change one of the above names (first + middle combo). Which one do you change, and what do you replace it with?

Image: Ein Kinderfest (1868) by Ludwig Knaus

One-syllable boy names: Colt, Wynn, Dax, Zane

single tree

Looking for a boy name that’s short and to-the-point? Something that might work particularly well as a middle name?

Check out this list of several hundred one-syllable boy names:

  • Abe, Alf, Arch, Ace/Ayce, Ames, Ash/Ashe
  • Baine/Bane/Bayne, Banks/Banx, Bar, Barnes, Bash, Bates, Bay, Baz, Bear, Beau/Bo/Bow, Beck, Becks/Bex, Ben, Benz, Birch, Blade/Blayde, Blain/Blaine/Blayne/Blane, Blair/Blaire, Blaise/Blaze/Blayze/Blaize, Bless, Blessed, Blake/Blayke, Bliss, Blitz, Blue/Blu, Blythe, Bond, Boone, Booth, Boyce, Boyd, Brad, Bram, Brance, Brave, Brax, Bray, Breck, Breeze/Brees, Brent, Brett/Bret, Brex, Brick, Brix/Brixx, Brigg, Briggs, Bright, Brock/Broc, Bronx, Bronze, Brook, Brooks, Bruce, Bryce/Brice, Buck, Burk/Burke, Burl/Berl, Burns
  • Cade/Cayde, Cain/Caine, Cale, Camp, Carl, Carr, Case, Cash/Cache, Catch, Caz, Chad, Chance, Chap, Charles, Chase, Chaz, Chen, Chet, Chez, Chip, Chris, Church, Clark/Clarke, Clash, Claude, Claus, Clay, Clayt, Cliff, Clint, Clive, Cloud, Clutch, Clyde, Coast, Cole, Colt, Cord, Court, Cove, Craig, Crane, Cree, Creed, Creek, Crew, Crews, Croix, Cross, Crown, Cruz, Czar
  • Dahl, Daire/Dare, Dale, Dan, Dane/Dain/Daine/Dayne/Dayn, Dart, Dash, Dawes, Dax, Dean, Dee, Del/Dell, Derl, Deuce, Din, Dirk, Doc/Dock, Dolph, Don, Dor, Dov, Doyle, Drake, Dream, Dre, Drew/Dru, Dodge, Dowd, Duane/Dwayne, Duff, Duke, Dune, Dutch
  • Earl, East, Ebb, Edge, Ernst
  • Fate, Finch, Finn, Fitz, Fjord, Fleet, Flex, Flint, Flip, Floyd, Flynn, Ford, Fox, Frank, Franz, Fred, Friend, Fritz, Frost
  • Gabe, Gad, Gage/Gauge, Gaines/Gains, Gal, Gale, Garth, Gates, Gay, Gent, Geoff, George, Gibb, Gibbs, Gil/Gill, Giles, Glade, Glenn/Glen, Graham, Grant, Graves, Gray/Grey, Great, Green/Greene, Griff, Grimm/Grim, Gur, Gus, Gust, Guy
  • Haines, Hale, Hall, Hank, Hans, Hatch, Hawk/Hawke, Hayes/Haze/Hayze/Haize, Heath, Heir, Hicks, Hill, Hines, Hoke, Holmes, Holt, Hoss, Hoyt, Hud, Hugh, Hume, Hunt, Hyde
  • Ives
  • Jacques, Jace/Jayce/Jase, Jack, Jake, James/Jamez, Jax, Jay/Jae, Jazz/Jaz, Jeff, Jess, Jin, Jett, Job, Joe/Jo, Joel, John/Jon, Jones, Josh, Joss, Jove, Juan, Judd/Jud, Jude, Judge, June, Jung
  • Kace/Kayce/Kase, Kade/Kayde, Kai, Kale, Kane/Kayne/Kaine, Karl, Kash, Kaz/Kazz, Keane/Kean/Keene, Keats, Keith, Kemp, Kent, Kern, Key, Kidd, Khan, Kim, King, Kip/Kipp, Kirk, Klaus, Klark, Klein, Knight, Knox, Kole, Kreed, Kris, Krish, Kurt, Kyle
  • Ladd, Lafe, Laird, Laith, Lake, Lance, Lane/Layne/Laine, Lark, Lars, Lee/Leigh, Leib, Leif/Leaf, Leith, Lev, Lex, Light, Lloyd, Locke/Lock, Lord/Lorde, Lorne, Lot/Lott, Luc, Luke, Lux, Lyle, Lynn/Lin, Lynx
  • Mace, Mack/Mac, March, Mark/Marc, Mars, Max, Mayes/Mays/Maze, Meade/Mead, Merle, Mike, Mills, Mitch, Moe/Mo, Moss, Myles/Miles
  • Nash, Nate, Naz, Neil/Neal, Neils, Nels, Ness, Nick, Nile, Niles/Nyles, Nils, Nir, Noel, Noor, North, Noyes
  • Oak, Oakes/Oaks, Om, Or, Oz
  • Pace, Page, Park, Parks/Parx, Parth, Patch, Paul, Pax, Paz, Peace, Peer, Penn, Pierce, Piers, Praise, Pratt, Pride, Priest, Prime, Prince, Psalm, Psalms
  • Quaid/Quade, Quest, Quill, Quinn, Quint
  • Ra, Race, Rage, Raines, Raj, Ralph, Ram, Rance, Rand, Range, Ray, Raz, Reece/Reese/Rhys, Reef, Reeve, Reeves, Reid/Reed, Reign, Rell, Ren, Rex, Rey, Rhett, Rhodes, Ridge, Riggs, Rip/Ripp, Roche, Rock, Rogue, Rolf/Rolfe, Rome, Ross, Roth, Rowe, Roy, Royce, Rudd, Rune, Rush, Rye/Ry, Ryne
  • Sage, Saint, Sam, Saul, Sayre, Scott, Seth/Set, Shade, Shane/Shayne/Shaine, Shaw, Shawn/Shaun/Sean, Shay/Shaye, Sky, Slate, Sloan/Sloane, Smith, South, Spade, Sprague, Steel, Stone, Storm, Styles/Stiles/Stylez, Suede, Swain/Swayne, Swan, Sway, Swift
  • Tad, Tadhg, Taft, Tai, Taj/Tahj/Tajh, Tal, Tank, Tate/Tait/Tayt, Tay/Taye, Taz, Teague, Tex, Thad, Thane/Thaine, Thames, Thor, Thorn/Thorne, Tighe, Todd, Tom/Thom, Townes/Towns, Trace, Track, Trent, Trey, Trigg, Tripp, Tris, Troy, Troyce, True/Tru, Truce, Trust, Truth, Twain, Ty/Tye
  • Val, Vale, Van, Vance, Vane, Vaughn, Vic/Vick, Vince, Von, Voss
  • Wade/Wayde, Wales, Ward, Wayne, Webb, Welch, Wells, West, Wilde, Wilks, Will, Wing, Witt/Whitt, Wolf/Wolfe, Wood, Woods, Worth, Wraith, Wray, Wren, Wright, Wynn/Winn
  • Yale, Yann, Yates, York, Young, Yves
  • Zack/Zach/Zac, Zade/Zaide/Zayde/Zayd, Zale, Zam, Zane/Zain/Zayne/Zaine/Zayn, Zeal, Zed/Zedd, Zell, Zen, Zeth, Zeus, Zev, Ziv, Zvi, Zyn

Please note that I did include names in the gray area between one syllable and two syllables. The deciding factor on these particular names (such as Charles, Miles, and Noel) will be your own interpretation/accent, so be sure to test the names out loud before making any final decisions.

Many of these names also happen to be unisex, so they appear on the one-syllable girl names list as well.

What’s your favorite one-syllable boy name?

Image: Adapted from 1 Drvo 06241 by Olja Simovic under CC BY-SA 4.0.

[Latest update: July 2023]