Wilhelmena vs Willow
American parents have registered 65,560 Willows since 1880, against 769 Wilhelmenas. Willow is still ahead, with 4,786 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Wilhelmena Willow
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 125 years in which either name was published, Willow for 104 years and Wilhelmena for 21 years. The lead changed hands 22 times.
- 1906–1909 Willow ahead
- 1910–1920 Wilhelmena ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1921–1947 Willow ahead, apart from 2 short spells
- 1948–1950 Wilhelmena ahead
- 1953–2025 Willow ahead, apart from one short spell
14 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Wilhelmena | Willow | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 769 | 65,560 |
| Most in one year | 26 | 5,231 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 4,786 |
| Estimated living today | 200 | 64,000 |
| Median age today | 78 | 6 |
| Peak year | 1919 | 2021 |
| Best rank | 1,565th girls | 39th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 44th |
| First recorded | 1896 | 1890 |
| Girls / boys | 769 / 0 | 65,095 / 465 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Wilhelmenas alive today are over 78; half the Willows are over 6. That is 72 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Wilhelmena South Carolina (65.6×)
- Willow Alaska (3.3×), Idaho (2.1×), New Hampshire (2.1×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Wilhelmena and Willow.