Woody
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Meaning
pet form of Woodrow or other names containing wood; also a nickname from the English word wood
The story
Woody had a place in American folk music before Pixar gave it a pull-string voice. The singer Woody Guthrie went by a short form of Woodrow Wilson Guthrie, his name honoring Woodrow Wilson. His songs documented the Dust Bowl and the Depression, and he wrote This Land Is Your Land in 1940. The longer Woodrow comes from an English surname and a place-name meaning a row of houses by a wood. Woody can shorten that name or other names containing wood; it can also arise as a nickname from the English word itself. Toy Story gives the familiar form to Andy's cowboy toy, whose voice comes from a pull-string box. When Woody and Buzz become separated from Andy, cooperation replaces their feud. Music and film leave different voices attached to the same nickname, with the folk singer's historical life fully separate from the cowboy's invented one.
The formal names behind Woody
Woody is an established short form of this name.
Woodrow · English origin · row of houses by the wood
How popular is Woody around the world?
In the United States, 80 babies were named Woody between 2020 and 2025. In England and Wales, 103 boys named Woody were born in 2025, the 396th most common name among boys that year.
Woody is on the official records of the United States, England and Wales and Brazil.
United States
1 in 270,000
In the United States, 80 babies were named Woody between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Woody has stayed rare in US records the whole time: no peak decade to name.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
England and Wales
1 in 5,700
In England and Wales, 103 boys named Woody were born in 2025, the 396th most common name 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
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 64 people in Brazil were named Woody, ranked 56,233rd, with a median age of 30.
Among people named Woody living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1990s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
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
Canada
last on record 2022
Woody is not on the 2024 record for Canada, where names under 5 in a year are excluded at source.
The count never rose above 6 in a year, too few to chart.
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)
Ireland
last on record 2021
Woody is not on the 2025 record for Ireland, where names under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Scotland
last on record 2023
Woody is not on the 2024 record for Scotland, where spellings under 3 in total are suppressed at source.
The count never rose above 7 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 2016
Woody is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 1 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, Argentina, Puerto Rico, 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 Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. 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 Woody
People given the name Woody in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1950 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
The Woody deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Woody 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 Woody fits with your family’s names and surname.
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