How popular is the baby name William 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 William.

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Popularity of the baby name William


Posts that mention the name William

Popular baby names in England and Wales (UK), 2024

Flag of the United Kingdom
Flag of the United Kingdom

Last year, the countries of England and Wales together welcomed 594,677 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Olivia and Muhammad.

Here are England and Wales’ top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Olivia, 2,761 baby girls
  2. Amelia, 2,448
  3. Lily, 2,185
  4. Isla, 2,056
  5. Ivy, 1,956
  6. Florence, 1,936
  7. Freya, 1,929
  8. Poppy, 1,888
  9. Ava, 1,774
  10. Elsie, 1,727
  11. Isabella, 1,708
  12. Sofia, 1,626
  13. Sophia, 1,610
  14. Mia, 1,609
  15. Maya, 1,592
  16. Bonnie, 1,583
  17. Phoebe, 1,549
  18. Daisy, 1,548
  19. Sienna, 1,537
  20. Evelyn, 1,512
  21. Willow, 1,481
  22. Harper, 1,461
  23. Charlotte, 1,418
  24. Rosie, 1,406
  25. Grace, 1,390
  26. Maeve, 1,265
  27. Millie, 1,255
  28. Margot, 1,243
  29. Evie, 1,231
  30. Arabella, 1,222
  31. Matilda, 1,220
  32. Hallie, 1,218
  33. Delilah, 1,180
  34. Emily, 1,170
  35. Aria, 1,154
  36. Penelope, 1,133
  37. Mabel, 1,113
  38. Lottie, 1,109
  39. Ella, 1,108
  40. Ada, 1,049
  41. Ruby, 1,020
  42. Violet, 1,010
  43. Aurora, 1,002
  44. Maisie, 992
  45. Emilia, 961
  46. Mila, 953
  47. Ayla, 922
  48. Luna, 908
  49. Alice, 896
  50. Sophie, 886

Boy names

  1. Muhammad, 5,721 baby boys
  2. Noah, 4,139
  3. Oliver, 3,492
  4. Arthur, 3,368
  5. Leo, 3,324
  6. George, 3,257
  7. Luca, 2,814
  8. Theodore, 2,761
  9. Oscar, 2,747
  10. Archie, 2,575
  11. Jude, 2,540
  12. Theo, 2,387
  13. Freddie, 2,369
  14. Henry, 2,360
  15. Arlo, 2,220
  16. Alfie, 2,020
  17. Charlie, 1,956
  18. Finley, 1,886
  19. Albie, 1,820
  20. Harry, 1,765
  21. Mohammed, 1,760
  22. Jack, 1,711
  23. Elijah, 1,661
  24. Rory, 1,588
  25. Lucas, 1,550
  26. Thomas, 1,543
  27. William, 1,517
  28. Louie, 1,516
  29. Teddy, 1,506
  30. Jacob, 1,484
  31. Edward, 1,461
  32. Roman, 1,454
  33. Reuben, 1,442
  34. Oakley, 1,432
  35. Adam, 1,410
  36. Alexander, 1,365
  37. Isaac, 1,360
  38. Ezra, 1,339
  39. Tommy, 1,324
  40. James, 1,252
  41. Rowan, 1,246
  42. Hudson, 1,216
  43. Reggie, 1,194
  44. Max, 1,140
  45. Sebastian, 1,116
  46. Hugo, 1,094
  47. Louis, 1,092
  48. Ethan, 1,086
  49. Ronnie, 1,059
  50. Joshua, 1,027

In the girls’ top 10, Poppy and Elsie replaced Willow and Isabella.

In the boys’ top 10, Archie replaced Henry.

At the other end of the spectrum I spotted Bryher (given to 5 baby girls), no doubt inspired by Bryher Island, located off the coast of Cornwall.

And, speaking of rare names, here’s a selection of those that were given to just three babies each in England and Wales (combined) in last year:

Rare girl namesRare boy names
Ascia, Barley, Clementina, Drashti, Euphemia, Fodhla, Gwenlli, Hyacinth, Isidora, Jindh, Kanak, Letizia, Migle, Ngoc, Olayinka, Pearly, Quinnie, Rennala, Sorella, Tirion, Unathi, Valora, Wallis, Xanthi, Yuet, ZhilaAelfred, Bramwell, Canelo, Doulton, Erling, Ferdia, Gursimran, Horace, Iorwerth, Jolyon, Kenshin, Llywelyn, Mawgan, Nikunj, Ozair, Penuel, Quintus, Rudolph, Shabsi, Teifion, Ugnius, Vishvam, Western, Xyleek, Ynyr, Zaroon

Some facts/thoughts about a few of the above…

  • Canelo is the Spanish word for “cinnamon.” (It’s also used as a nickname for a redheaded person.)
  • Erling is the first name of Norwegian soccer player Erling Haaland (who currently plays for Manchester City).
  • Gwenlli is a short form of the Welsh name Gwenllian.
  • Migle is based on the Lithuanian word migla, meaning “mist.”
  • Teifion may be based on the name of the River Teifi in Wales.
  • Xyleek, which debuted impressively in the U.S. data last year, may have been inspired by a TikTok video.
  • Ynyr is the Welsh form of the Latin name Honorius.

Finally, here are the 2024 rankings for Scotland and Northern Ireland — the other two countries in the United Kingdom — and the 2023 rankings for England and Wales, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United Kingdom (public domain)

How did “Good Will Hunting” influence baby names?

The characters Skylar and Will from the movie "Good Will Hunting" (1997)
Skylar and Will from “Good Will Hunting“

The protagonist of the movie Good Will Hunting, which was released in December of 1997, was a young man from South Boston named Will Hunting (played by Matt Damon).

Will Hunting saw “nothing wrong with spending his whole life hanging out with his friends, quaffing a few beers, holding down a blue-collar job.”

The problem? He was also a self-taught mathematical genius with a photographic memory.

So several people in his life — including his best friend Chuckie (Ben Affleck), his psychotherapist Sean (Robin Williams), and his girlfriend Skylar (Minnie Driver) — pushed him to rise above his troubled past and embrace his gifts. As Chuckie put it, Will was “sitting on a winning lottery ticket” — he just had to find the courage to cash it in.

Good Will Hunting became one of the highest-grossing films of 1998. It also won a pair of Academy Awards: one for Best Supporting Actor (Williams), the other for Best Original Screenplay (Damon and Affleck).

So how did the movie affect the baby name charts?

The usage of Will, which was the only name used to refer to the main character (i.e., he was never called William), increased in 1998:

  • 2000: 447 baby boys named Will [rank: 510th]
  • 1999: 422 baby boys named Will [rank: 506th]
  • 1998: 339 baby boys named Will [rank: 578th]
  • 1997: 268 baby boys named Will [rank: 634th]
  • 1996: 280 baby boys named Will [rank: 622nd]

And the slow rise of Skylar for baby girls accelerated noticeably the same year:

Girls named SkylarBoys named Skylar
20002,503 [rank: 135th]748 [rank: 356th]
19992,513 [rank: 131st]695 [rank: 374th]
19981,731 [rank: 173rd]730 [rank: 358th]
1997953 [rank: 302nd]657 [rank: 372nd]
1996855 [rank: 328th]636 [rank: 373rd]

(The names Wil, Skyler, and Skyla also saw higher usage in 1998.)

Matt Damon wrote the first draft of the script for Good Will Hunting while attending Harvard College in the early ’90s. He based the character of Skylar, a pre-med student at Harvard, on his then-girlfriend, Skylar Satenstein, a former pre-med student at Harvard. (She’d since become a med student at Columbia.)

Incidentally, Satenstein went on the marry Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich (son of Torben Ulrich) in early 1997. Later the same year, Lars and Skylar attended the local premiere of Good Will Hunting together in New York City.

P.S. The movie was shot during the spring of 1997, which overlapped with the end of my own freshman year at Harvard. I remember other students saying they’d spotted a film crew in the area during those months.

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Good Will Hunting

Popular baby names (and Maori baby names) in New Zealand, 2024

Flag of New Zealand
Flag of New Zealand

Last year, the island nation of New Zealand welcomed a total of 59,199 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Isla and Noah.

Here are New Zealand’s top 50+ girl names and top 50 boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Isla, 190 baby girls
  2. Amelia, 183
  3. Charlotte, 173
  4. Lily, 158
  5. Isabella, 155
  6. Olivia, 154
  7. Hazel, 144
  8. Harper, 141
  9. Mia, 137
  10. Mila, 133
  11. Ava, 129 (tie)
  12. Ruby, 129 (tie)
  13. Sophie, 128
  14. Grace, 120
  15. Chloe, 114
  16. Ella, 113
  17. Aria, 112
  18. Willow, 107 (tie)
  19. Zoe, 107 (tie)
  20. Evelyn, 105 (tie)
  21. Millie, 105 (tie)
  22. Violet, 103
  23. Sophia, 102
  24. Daisy, 101
  25. Freya, 97
  26. Lucy, 96
  27. Ivy, 94
  28. Sienna, 92
  29. Emily, 91
  30. Amaia, 89 (tie)
  31. Matilda, 89 (tie)
  32. Olive, 88
  33. Margot, 87
  34. Kaia, 85 (tie)
  35. Maeve, 85 (tie)
  36. Ellie, 82
  37. Billie, 81 (tie)
  38. Layla, 81 (tie)
  39. Frankie, 80
  40. Stella, 79
  41. Georgia, 78 (tie)
  42. Sadie, 78 (tie)
  43. Maia, 77 (tie)
  44. Sofia, 77 (tie)
  45. Aurora, 74 (tie)
  46. Elsie, 74 (tie)
  47. Penelope, 72 (tie)
  48. Poppy, 72 (tie)
  49. Luna, 71
  50. Eden, 70 (3-way tie)
  51. Florence, 70 (3-way tie)
  52. Riley, 70 (3-way tie)

Boy names

  1. Noah, 250 baby boys
  2. Oliver, 228
  3. Leo, 202
  4. George, 198 (tie)
  5. Jack, 198 (tie)
  6. Luca, 192
  7. Theodore, 189
  8. Elijah, 159
  9. Theo, 158
  10. Arthur, 152
  11. Charlie, 149
  12. James, 141
  13. Lucas, 137
  14. Henry, 135
  15. Arlo, 132 (3-way tie)
  16. Hudson, 132 (3-way tie)
  17. William, 132 (3-way tie)
  18. Archie, 131
  19. Lachlan, 121
  20. Cooper, 116
  21. Ezra, 114 (tie)
  22. Finn, 114 (tie)
  23. Liam, 113 (tie)
  24. Thomas, 113 (tie)
  25. Ethan, 106 (4-way tie)
  26. Hugo, 106 (4-way tie)
  27. Levi, 106 (4-way tie)
  28. Oscar, 106 (4-way tie)
  29. Hunter, 105
  30. Max, 101
  31. Carter, 98 (tie)
  32. Louie, 98 (tie)
  33. Mason, 97
  34. Felix, 94
  35. Asher, 93
  36. Archer, 87 (3-way tie)
  37. Austin, 87 (3-way tie)
  38. Daniel, 87 (3-way tie)
  39. Beau, 85 (tie)
  40. Luke, 85 (tie)
  41. Benjamin, 84
  42. Alexander, 82
  43. Luka, 79 (tie)
  44. Roman, 79 (tie)
  45. Jasper, 78
  46. Elias, 77
  47. Riley, 76
  48. Joseph, 74
  49. Harvey, 72
  50. Louis, 71

The girls’ top 100 included Mackenzie (66th), Asees (80th), Arabella (89th), and Esther (92nd).

The boys’ top 100 included Zorawar (55th), Oakley (59th), Atlas (78th), and Bodhi (97th).

And what about Maori names specifically?

The top Maori baby names in New Zealand in 2024 — just like in 2023, and 2022 — were Aroha/Te Aroha for girls and Ariki/Te Ariki for boys.

Here are New Zealand’s top 10 Maori girl names and top 10 Maori boy names:

Maori girl names

  1. Aroha/Te Aroha, 173 baby girls
  2. Maia/Te Maia, 137
  3. Moana/Te Moana, 84
  4. Anahera/Te Anahera, 66
  5. Atarangi/Te Atarangi, 60
  6. Manaia, 58
  7. Rangimarie/Te Rangimarie, 54
  8. Rangi/Te Rangi, 49
  9. Marama/Te Marama, 48
  10. Tui, 45

Maori boy names

  1. Ariki/Te Ariki, 137 baby boys
  2. Wiremu, 100
  3. Koa, 76
  4. Mikaere, 74
  5. Rangi/Te Rangi, 70
  6. Nikau, 68
  7. Rawiri, 65
  8. Kiwa, 55
  9. Kahurangi/Te Kahurangi, 52
  10. Manaaki, 51

(Please note that I’ve simplified these lists a bit, because Maori names/words that contain macrons don’t render properly on my site.)

Interestingly, the Maori rankings don’t cover the calendar year 2024, like New Zealand’s national rankings do. Instead, they cover births from July 1, 2024, to June 18, 2025. These dates coincide with Matariki, a.k.a. Maori New Year.

Sources: Top Baby Names – New Zealand Government, Top baby names for 2024 – Beehive.govt.nz, Aroha/Te Aroha and Ariki/Te Ariki top Maori baby names of 2024/2025 – dia.govt.nz

Image: Adapted from Flag of New Zealand (public domain)

Baby name story: Emdiella

Record of Emdiella Whiskerd's christening in 1852
Emdiella Whiskerd

A baby girl born in 1852 to William and Sarah Whiskerd of Norfolk, England, was given the unusual name Emdiella.

Forty years later, a grandchild of the vicar who performed Emdiella’s baptism wrote a letter to the editor of the London newspaper The Standard. Here’s what it said:

A child (a girl) was brought for baptism to my grandfather. When asked the name, the parent, to his surprise, replied, “Emdiella.” “There is no such name,” said my grandfather. “Oh, yes, sir, there is; we saw it in a book,” replied the woman. My grandfather at the time did not like to inquire further, but it turned out that she had found in an old grammar the four liquid letters, L.M.N.R., and had confused them into M.D.L.R. The child was, however, christened “Emdiella.”

Her name is spelled “Emdeeler” in both the marriage register (1873) and the death register (1915).

(Here are dozens of other names spelled with the names of letters, if you’re interested.)

Sources:

Image: Baptismal record of Emdiella Whiskerd