unisex name
Willie
WIL-ee
- Origin Germanic
- Gender Unisex
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 596,854
Ireland
#938
2024 births
Willie is a pet form of William meaning resolute protector, and one of the more genuinely mixed names in our records — a quarter of the births we hold are female, which is unusual for a name read today as male.
- Willie is a name of Germanic origin.
- Peaked in 1925, when 11,071 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 21,253 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Willie over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 9,303 |
| 1890s | 16,958 |
| 1900s | 30,103 |
| 1910s | 75,869 |
| 1920s | 105,807 |
| 1930s | 86,339 |
| 1940s | 90,520 |
| 1950s | 76,519 |
| 1960s | 43,443 |
| 1970s | 24,987 |
| 1980s | 17,350 |
| 1990s | 9,848 |
| 2000s | 5,175 |
| 2010s | 3,152 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,012 |
What Willie means
Willie means resolute protection, carried from William. The Germanic original joins a word for will or desire to one meaning helmet or protection, so the sense is determined defense.
Where Willie comes from
Willie is clipped from William, the Germanic Willahelm — wil, will or desire, joined to helm, a helmet and by extension protection. William arrived with the Conqueror and became the most common English male name for centuries, generating an unusual number of pet forms: Will, Bill, Billy, Willie, Liam. The female use of Willie is largely American and largely nineteenth-century, where it served as a pet form of Wilhelmina and as a name in its own right, and it accounts for the quarter of our records that are female. That share has fallen away entirely in modern use.
Willie in use
Willie peaked in the United States in 1925, when 11,071 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now charts in three of our seven markets — 1317th in the United States on 156 births, 2459th in Canada and 4848th in England and Wales — across 596,854 lifetime births. About 25 percent of those births are female, which places it among the more genuinely mixed names on this site, though the female use belongs almost entirely to the period before 1940.
How popular is Willie?
In 2025, Willie was given to 156 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Willie is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Willie
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Willie also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Willie over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Willie in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Dutch
- William Wilhelmina
- German
- Willi
- Polish
- Wilhelmina
- Swedish
- Wilhelmina
Sibling names for Willie
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Willie — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Willie
What does the name Willie mean?
Resolute protection, carried from William.
Is Willie a girls' name?
It was, for about a quarter of recorded births — mostly American and mostly before 1940, often as a pet form of Wilhelmina.
Is Willie short for William?
Yes, and it has long been registered as a full name in its own right.
How popular is Willie?
1317th in the United States, down from a 1925 peak of 11,071 births.
How many syllables are in Willie?
Willie has 2 syllables.
Is Willie a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Willie currently ranks #1,317 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.