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Willow vs Wilodean

American parents have registered 65,560 Willows since 1880, against 55 Wilodeans. Willow is still ahead, with 4,786 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Willow against Wilodean, 1880 to 2025 0 1.5k 3k 4.5k 6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Willow Wilodean

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

Willow has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1890 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1933, when Willow had 24 and Wilodean had 10.

Side by side

  Willow Wilodean
Total US births 65,56055
Most in one year 5,23110
Babies in 2025 4,786under 5
Estimated living today 64,0005
Median age today 693
Peak year 20211933
Best rank 39th girls2,688th girls
Rank in 2025 44thunranked
First recorded 18901924
Girls / boys 65,095 / 46555 / 0

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 Wilodeans alive today are over 93; half the Willows are over 6. That is 87 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Willow and Wilodean.