Willa

femaleStatistical record

What official birth registration shows about Willa: which national registrars published it, in which years, and how its recorded position changed.

No researched meaning, origin or pronunciation yet — what that means.

Willa: Recorded since 1997, its highest recorded position is #638, reached in 2024.

3registrars recorded it
30times a registrar ranked it
28years from first to last
#638highest recorded position
7groupings it qualifies for

Region

Rising

among girls in England and Wales · 1997–2024

View as table

England and Wales · Girls rank by year
Year	Rank
1997	#1958
1999	#3225
2000	#3247
2001	#3998
2002	#4137
2003	#1996
2004	#3725
2005	#3382
2006	#2320
2007	#4294
2008	#3005
2009	#2148
2010	#1520
2011	#1729
2012	#1720
2013	#1707
2014	#1204
2015	#1204
2016	#1241
2017	#933
2018	#806
2019	#897
2020	#969
2021	#1069
2022	#857
2023	#1030
2024	#670

VerifiedSource: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales.Confidence: high.

See all England and Wales names · Source: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales

What the data shows

RisingEngland and Wales · Girls

Recorded in official data among girls in England and Wales in 27 of the 28 years from 1997 to 2024.

In 2024: #638 among girls in Scotland, #670 among girls in England and Wales, #898 among girls in Republic of Ireland.

Official data from 3 national registrars across 3 regions, 1997–2024 · Office for National Statistics. Data sources

Popularity journey

First recorded1997
First recorded at #1958 among girls in England and Wales in 1997 — the earliest year that source publishes this name, not necessarily the earliest it was used.
England and Wales · Girls
Most recent2024
Most recently recorded at #670 among girls in England and Wales, in 2024.
England and Wales · Girls

Willa appears in 2 of the published lists Namewise holds. The longest record is England and Wales · Girls, which has ranked it in 27 years beginning in 1997, and has registered 548 births with the name.

Willa across 2 official records

Each registrar publishes its own list, so these figures are read down a row, never across one. A position in one country is not comparable with a position in another, and Namewise never combines them into a single ranking. The birth counts do not compare across rows either, for a different reason: England and Wales registers roughly thirty times as many births a year as Northern Ireland, so a larger total says which registrar recorded it as much as how widely the name was given.

Willa's first, highest and most recent recorded position in each official list, with the number of births each registrar registered with the name and its largest single year
Published list	First recorded	Highest	Most recent	Years recorded	Births registered	Most in one year
England and Wales · Girls	#1958 (1997)	#670 (2024)	#670 (2024)	27 of 28	548 (1997–2024)	57 (2024)
Republic of Ireland · Girls	#734 (2018)	#734 (2018)	#898 (2024)	2 of 7	7 (2018–2024)	4 (2018)

Willa by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Births registered with the name in each decade of this one list, with the number of years the list covers in that decade. Bars are scaled on births a year, which is the figure that compares between decades — a decade the list only partly covers has a smaller total without being a quieter decade. Figures belong to this registrar alone and do not carry to another.

Births registered with Willa in England and Wales · Girls, by decade, with years covered and the average per year
Decade	Births registered	Years covered	A year
1990s	12	2 of 10	6
2000s	59	10 of 10	6
2010s	279	10 of 10	28
2020sbusiest	198	5 of 10	40

Across England and Wales · Girls, the 2020s were its busiest decade — the 5 years of it this list covers, averaging 40 births a year.

See the names England and Waleshas recorded the most births with →

Willa appears in

Groupings this name qualifies for under their own stated rules, from the same official statistics shown above.

Popularity data

Official popularity data is available for 3 regions, from 1997 to 2024. Highest recorded position: #638 in Scotland in 2024.

Willa's recorded popularity observations by year, region and administrative category, including rank, registered births, source confidence and when each region's data was last reviewed.
Year	Region	Category	Rank	Births registered	Confidence	Status
2024	England and Wales	female	#670	57	High	Verified
2023	England and Wales	female	#1030	33	High	Verified
2022	England and Wales	female	#857	41	High	Verified
2021	England and Wales	female	#1069	32	High	Verified
2020	England and Wales	female	#969	35	High	Verified
2019	England and Wales	female	#897	40	High	Verified
2018	England and Wales	female	#806	47	High	Verified
2017	England and Wales	female	#933	40	High	Verified
2016	England and Wales	female	#1241	27	High	Verified
2015	England and Wales	female	#1204	28	High	Verified
2014	England and Wales	female	#1204	28	High	Verified
2013	England and Wales	female	#1707	17	High	Verified
2012	England and Wales	female	#1720	17	High	Verified
2011	England and Wales	female	#1729	16	High	Verified
2010	England and Wales	female	#1520	19	High	Verified
2009	England and Wales	female	#2148	11	High	Verified
2008	England and Wales	female	#3005	7	High	Verified
2007	England and Wales	female	#4294	4	High	Verified
2006	England and Wales	female	#2320	9	High	Verified
2005	England and Wales	female	#3382	5	High	Verified
2004	England and Wales	female	#3725	4	High	Verified
2003	England and Wales	female	#1996	9	High	Verified
2002	England and Wales	female	#4137	3	High	Verified
2001	England and Wales	female	#3998	3	High	Verified
2000	England and Wales	female	#3247	4	High	Verified
1999	England and Wales	female	#3225	4	High	Verified
1997	England and Wales	female	#1958	8	High	Verified
2024	Republic of Ireland	female	#898	3	High	Verified
2018	Republic of Ireland	female	#734	4	High	Verified
2024	Scotland	female	#638	4	High	Verified

England and Wales hub — collected by Office for National Statistics
Republic of Ireland hub — collected by CSO Ireland
Scotland hub — collected by National Records of Scotland

See methodology and data sources for how popularity data is collected and what "confidence" means.

What the record shows

Recorded by 3 registrars between 1997 and 2024, ranked in 27 years of that period.

Its highest recorded position is #638, first reached in 2024.

Its largest count from any one registrar is 57 births, registered in England and Wales in 2024.

Its record falls into 2 separate stretches, with a longest absence of 1 year.

A second registrar first ranked it in 2018, and 27 years separate the first registrar to record it from the last.

Every figure here is counted from the seven official registrars Namewise holds. A position is only ever a place within the list that published it, and a record that thins or stops is a fact about what registrars printed — never about how many children received the name.

Where to go next

Records with a comparable body of evidence, so the catalogue can be read outward from this one. Each group states the rule it was selected by.

Next in the catalogue

The records either side of this one alphabetically.

Wiliam · #1410, 25y
Will · #143, 30y
Willem · #694, 29y
William · #1, 81y

A comparable record

Records held by the same 3 registrars, over a similar number of ranked years, whose highest position is closest to this one. A similar body of evidence — never a claim that the names themselves are alike.

Darby · #638, 28y
Esmeralda · #638, 26y
Joanie · #638, 24y
Kylah · #638, 28y

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Records whose earliest ranking in Namewise's registrar data also falls between 1990 and 1999.

Bilaal · #638, 28y
Blythe · #638, 29y
Clover · #638, 27y
Corah · #638, 16y

Willa was ranked #638 in Scotland · Girls in 2024. These are the names immediately either side of it on that published list — a fact about the registrar's own output, not a similarity judgement.

Willa and the names beside it

Two names in the same published list are measured on the same scale, in the same year, by the same registrar — so these are positions that genuinely passed each other, not a similarity judgement. Drawn from the 2,573 names with a recorded popularity standing (common, familiar, uncommon), so a name outside that set could have passed Willa without appearing here.

Willa moved ahead of

Martine Compare
In 2009 they stood at #4294 and #3218 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2010 that had become #1520 and #5707.
Brittany Compare
In 2009 they stood at #3005 and #2487 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2010 that had become #1520 and #4688.
Denise Compare
In 2012 they stood at #1720 and #1720 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2013 that had become #1707 and #4739.
Maren Compare
In 2005 they stood at #4137 and #4137 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2006 that had become #2320 and #5061.

Moved ahead of Willa

Alma Compare
In 2003 they stood at #1996 and #2727 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2004 that had become #3725 and #1535.
Maja Compare
In 1998 they stood at #1958 and #2152 in England and Wales · Girls; by 1999 that had become #3225 and #1473.
Beau Compare
In 1998 they stood at #1958 and #3174 in England and Wales · Girls; by 1999 that had become #3225 and #1805.
Mila Compare
In 1998 they stood at #1958 and #3174 in England and Wales · Girls; by 1999 that had become #3225 and #2189.

Moved the opposite way to Willa

Abigail Compare
Between 1997 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Willa went from #1958 to #670 while Abigail went from #24 to #154.
Aimee Compare
Between 1997 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Willa went from #1958 to #670 while Aimee went from #61 to #1603.
Aisling Compare
Between 1997 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Willa went from #1958 to #670 while Aisling went from #496 to #2000.
Alex Compare
Between 1997 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Willa went from #1958 to #670 while Alex went from #179 to #2253.

Moved the same way as Willa

Ada Compare
Between 1997 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Willa went from #1958 to #670 and Ada from #1543 to #40.
Alma Compare
Between 1997 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Willa went from #1958 to #670 and Alma from #2411 to #234.
Alyssa Compare
Between 1997 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Willa went from #1958 to #670 and Alyssa from #506 to #285.
Amalie Compare
Between 1997 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Willa went from #1958 to #670 and Amalie from #3824 to #1128.

What's not yet available

Meaning
Origin
Pronunciation
Nicknames and spelling variants

Absence from this list does not mean the name isn't genuinely meaningful or widely used — only that Namewise hasn't sourced and reviewed that content yet. Absence from a specific year or geography above does not prove zero use there either; official statistics only publish names above a minimum threshold.

Official popularity data is available for 3 regions, from 1997 to 2024. Highest recorded position: #638 in Scotland in 2024. Source data last verified 2026-07-21.

Willa

Willa at a glance

What the data shows

Popularity journey

Willa across 2 official records

Willa by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Willa appears in

Popularity data

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Names published alongside Willa

Willa and the names beside it

Willa moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Willa

Moved the opposite way to Willa

Moved the same way as Willa

Willa at a glance

Willa across 2 official records

Willa by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Willa appears in

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Names published alongside Willa

Willa and the names beside it

Willa moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Willa

Moved the opposite way to Willa

Moved the same way as Willa