Willena vs Willow
American parents have registered 65,560 Willows since 1880, against 1,068 Willenas. Willow is still ahead, with 4,786 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Willena 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 123 years in which either name was published, Willow for 100 years and Willena for 23 years. The lead changed hands 19 times.
- 1890–1909 Willow ahead
- 1914–1923 Willena ahead
- 1924–1939 Willow ahead, apart from 2 short spells
- 1940–1942 Willena ahead
- 1943–2025 Willow ahead, apart from 3 short spells
10 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Willena | Willow | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,068 | 65,560 |
| Most in one year | 34 | 5,231 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 4,786 |
| Estimated living today | 410 | 64,000 |
| Median age today | 68 | 6 |
| Peak year | 1923 | 2021 |
| Best rank | 1,350th girls | 39th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 44th |
| First recorded | 1884 | 1890 |
| Girls / boys | 1,068 / 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 Willenas alive today are over 68; half the Willows are over 6. That is 62 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Willena Kentucky (25.3×), Mississippi (20.7×)
- 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: Willena and Willow.