Willis
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Meaning
from an English surname derived from Will (William, "will helmet"); famously borne by Willis Carrier, inventor of modern air conditioning
The story
Willis grew out of William as a surname, Will's son, so it carries the same old Germanic elements underneath: will and helmet. Fitting, then, that its most famous bearer protected us all from summer. Willis Carrier was a young engineer in 1902 when a Brooklyn printing plant asked him to tame the humidity that was warping its paper; his solution became modern air conditioning, and the company he co-founded went on to cool homes, hospitals, and whole cities. Few inventors have changed daily comfort so completely while remaining so anonymous. As a first name, Willis did its strongest work in the early twentieth century, peaking in the 1930s, then settled onto a long, level plateau where it remains: never fashionable, never gone, always quietly present in American records. That unshowy steadiness suits a name whose most famous owner simply made things work.
Willis across languages
One shared root links 12 names across 3 languages.
Shared root: from Germanic Willahelm, wil "will, desire" + helm "helmet, protection"
The constellation
9 more branches of this family
How popular is Willis around the world?
In the United States, 330 babies were named Willis between 2020 and 2025.
Willis is on the official records of the United States, Brazil and England and Wales.
United States
1 in 66,000
In the United States, 330 babies were named Willis between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Willis peaked in the 1890s and the 1930s in nearly equal measure. In US birth records Willis has stayed between 330 and 4,661 births in every decade since the 1950s: a name everyone knows and few children get.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Brazil
1 in 140,000
At the 2022 census, 1,361 people in Brazil were named Willis, ranked 6,714th, with a median age of 34.
Among people named Willis living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 23 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
England and Wales
1 in 150,000
In England and Wales, 4 boys named Willis were born in 2025, ranked 4,275th among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Argentina
last on record 2014
Willis is not on the 2024 record for Argentina, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Canada
last on record 2022
Willis is not on the 2024 record for Canada, where names under 5 in a year are excluded at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Montevideo City
last on record 2004
Willis is not on the 2011 record for Montevideo, whose registry withholds nothing, so the spelling was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
Scotland
last on record 2016
Willis is not on the 2024 record for Scotland, where spellings under 3 in total are suppressed at source.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
South Australia
last on record 2013
Willis is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Puerto Rico, Ireland, New Zealand and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Willis
People given the name Willis in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1940 to 1989. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
Names of geniuses and inventors · Familiar but never popular
The Willis deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Willis truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Willis fits with your family’s names and surname.
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