Wills

#13,795 in 2025Boys' name

Will + helmet, through William

Wills has been given to 62 babies in the U.S. since 1921. In 2025 it ranked #13,795 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2021, with 12 recorded.

Babies named Wills, 2025

1 in 663,000

Wills over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Wills: meaning, origin, and history

Will + helmet, through William

surname transfer

What Wills means

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

Origin, language, and formation

Wills is used in English. Its origins include surname transfer.

Wills comes through Indonesian patronymic.

Wills is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include William.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Wills is pronounced /wɪlz/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 62 boys were recorded with the name Wills between 1921 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 12 in 2021; its best national rank was #4,966 in 1921.

Over 10 years its rank fell, from #12,019 in 2015 to #13,795 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 Wills?

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: #13,795; of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size: 459,581 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Wills 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 Wills. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Willss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Wills was born before 2018 — so the typical Wills is around 7 today.

Median birth year: 2018; About 7 years old
Biggest decade: 2020s; 43.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 91.9%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 57; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2020s — 43.5% of all recorded uses (27).

Is Wills 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: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: −1,776; Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago: 0.83×; Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak: 41.7%; Peak was 2021 (12)
Years since peak: 4; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 25.0% average annual change
Best rank ever: #4,966; 1921

Spellings of Wills

Wills is not the most common spelling — Willie is, with 33.2% against Wills's <0.01%.

Willie33.2%450,188
Billy28.4%384,233
Bill11.9%160,474
Miles9.1%122,868
Silas5.6%75,465
Willis3.9%52,336
Will3.4%45,952
Wiley1.4%18,400

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Wills around the world

Where Wills 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
2005–2005
#3,849
in 2005
France
2000–2005
#4,176
in 2005

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Wills by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: #13,795
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: New entry
Best rank ever: #4,966; 1921
Peak year: 2021; 12 that year
First recorded: 1921
Last recorded: 2025
All-time count: 62
Count in 2025: 5

Names similar to Wills

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

Wilde Wild Wilks Wilver Wilman Wilian Willi Willa Wilgus Wilho Wilkes Wilbon Willet Willys Wilda Wilkin Willow Willmar Wilsie Wilner Wilmore Wildon Wilondja Wilmar

Sibling names for Wills

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

For a sister

Annabell Abagail Shyann Halie Sydni Sydnie Karleigh Allyssa

For a brother

Aaden Kale Hamilton Caesar Brennen Tobin Jerimiah Jorden

Explore around Wills

Top names of 2021, Wills's peak year The 2020s in full Other names that peaked in 1921 Boys' names starting with W William Variations & Nicknames