NameYear

Girls' name · peaked in 2020

Willa name popularity since 1925

26,348 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Willa. Half of them were born in 1964 or earlier, so the typical Willa is about 62 years old in 2026. Willa peaked in 2020 as the #350 name for girls, and it ranked #422 in 2025.

US babies since 1925
26,348
Named Willa, 1925–2025
Peak year
2020
#350 for girls that year
Typical age
About 62
Median birth year 1964
In 2025
#422
for girls in 2025 (742 babies)
Girls / boys
99.9% girls
26,324 girls · 24 boys
Most popular in
West Virginia
3.00× its national share

Peak year is the year Willa made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.

Willa births per year, 1925–2025

Babies named Willa per year, 1925–2025

The biggest year by count was 2019. Measured as a share of all babies, Willa peaked in 2020.

  • Steepest fall: Between 1942 and 1947, Willa's share of baby girls fell by 45%, from 1 in 3,210 to 1 in 5,850.
  • Fastest rise: Between 2011 and 2016, it became 2.6× more common, from 1 in 6,740 baby girls to 1 in 2,570.

Shaded on the chart. Both compare Willa's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Willa.

Decade by decade

Babies named Willa in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade GirlsBoys Rank
1925–29 2,6177 –
1930s 4,44117 #298
1940s 3,4150 #380
1950s 2,1180 #601
1960s 9560 #1,096
1970s 3330 #2,742
1980s 2830 #3,618
1990s 4040 #2,587
2000s 1,3440 #1,656
2010s 5,6520 #481
2020–25 4,7610 #422

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

36.0% of babies named Willa from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Gen Alpha years (2013–2025). The full split by generation:

Willa by generation Greatest Generation born 1925–27 6.2% Silent Generation born 1928–45 29.4% Baby Boomers born 1946–64 14.8% Gen X born 1965–80 2.6% Millennials born 1981–96 2.0% Gen Z born 1997–2012 9.1% Gen Alpha born 2013–25 36.0%

Where Willa is most popular

The index compares Willa's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Willa.

StateIndexBabies
West Virginia3.00×608
Oklahoma2.86×857
Arkansas2.65×626
Kentucky2.54×981
Nebraska2.43×393

Names with a similar story

Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Willa's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Willa.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Willa (2020).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data