Wilson

What Wilson means

Short form of William, meaning “will + helmet”

short form of William || From Middle English William, from Anglo-Norman Willame, from Old High German Willahelm, from Proto-Germanic *Wiljahelmaz (> Latin Gulielmus), from Proto-Germanic *wiljô (“will”) + *helmaz (“helmet”), ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European

Source: Wiktionary, “Wilson” (revision 94544728) and “William” (revision 94595525), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Wilson?

US: Steady: #620 in 2015, #672 now. England & Wales: Falling: down from #682 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1918, when 1,381 boys got the name (#122 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 4,217 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 18,129 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in MS (0.83 per 1,000 boys), AR (0.64 per 1,000 boys), ID (0.58 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Wilson is #672 in the US and #1705 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Wilson were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Willson8 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

Spelling variants on Wiktionary

• Willson

Listed as alternative forms on Wiktionary.

If you like Wilson

Boys

• Quincy#652Editor’s note Used for both: 56% of US babies named Quincy in 2025 were boys
• Reese#602“ardor”^*
• Reece#460Editor’s note Used for both: 77% of US babies named Reece in 2025 were boys
• Ashton#197“ash (tree species) + enclosure, settlement”^*
• Hayden#161“hay + valley”^*
• Rohan#810“to ascend”^*

For a sister

• Campbell#617“crooked + mouth”^*
• Ainsley#483Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #483 vs #2,440 in 2025
• Reese#192“ardor”^*
• Kamryn#556Variant of Cameron, meaning “crooked, bent + nose”^*
• Rylie#476Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #476 vs #1,454 in 2025
• Camryn#476Variant of Cameron, meaning “crooked, bent + nose”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under From a surname, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Wilson’s. Rank is US 2025.