Name Awesome

Wil

#13,793 in 2025Boys' name

Will + helmet, through Will

Wil has been given to 1,094 babies in the U.S. since 1953. In 2025 it ranked #13,793 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2005, with 48 recorded.

Babies named Wil, 2025

1 in 663,000

Wil over time, 1880–2025

Boys
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Wil: meaning, origin, and history

Will + helmet, through Will

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Wil means

Wil belongs to the name family reached through Wil → Will → William. Its meaning is “will + helmet”.

Origin, language, and formation

Wil is used in English and Welsh.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Will and William.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,094 boys were recorded with the name Wil between 1953 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 48 in 2005; its best national rank was #2,121 in 1998.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #10,541 in 2020 to #13,793 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #5,048 in 2015 to #13,793 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Wil?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 663,000
5 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 342,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#13,793
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
459,581 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Wil sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 459,581 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Wil. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Wils were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Wil was born before 2000 — so the typical Wil is around 25 today.

Median birth year
2000
About 25 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
32.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
47.2%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,094
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 32.7% of all recorded uses (358).

Is Wil rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−2,931
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−3,252
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−8,745
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.26×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
10.4%
Peak was 2005 (48)
Years since peak
20
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
28.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,121
1998

Where Wil is used

Across 1910–2025, Wil was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 1,547,935 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Ohio1 in —
  3. 3Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Wil has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Wil around the world

Where Wil ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #4,275
    in 2025
  • France
    2018–2021
    #6,468
    in 2021
  • Canada
    1999–2010
    #2,386
    in 2010
  • South Australia
    1991–2011
    #784
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Wil by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#13,793
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 3,252
Best rank ever
#2,121
1998
Peak year
2005
48 that year
First recorded
1953
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,094
Count in 2025
5

Names similar to Wil

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

WiliamWillyWilmarWillowWilmaWillemWillamWildeWilkesWilhelmWilmanWilianWilleWildWilverWillsonWilberWilliaWilburtWilderWillianWiltonWileyWills

Sibling names for Wil

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Wil

Top names of 2005, Wil's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1998Boys' names starting with WWelsh Boy NamesWilliam Variations & Nicknames