Willow is one of several names in the English language derived from nature and is usually meant to signify “freedom.”
Willow is a female first name. In very rare cases it is also used for boys.
The first name Willow is one of the top 100 most popular girls names in the US – currently at #70 in our SmartGenius ranking. Over 1,000 babies each year are named Willow, accounting for approximately 0.20 % of all newborn girls. In the entire USA, approximately 48,222 people – children, adults and seniors – currently bear the name Willow. That is 0.01 % of all living Americans.
Willow is one of several names in the English language derived from nature and is usually meant to signify “freedom.”
Did you know... that the willow tree is considered one of the most graceful trees? The tree's free-swinging branches are associated with flexibility, resilience and grace.
Willow Shields (*2000)
The American actress is probably best known for her role as Primrose Everdeen in the film series "The Hunger Games" (2012–2015). She since starred in several mainstream films such as "Into the Rainbow" (2017) and "Woodstuck or Bust" (2019), as well as in the Netflix series "Spinning Out" (2020).
Willow Smith (*2000)
The daughter of the actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith makes an appearance as a singer and actress. In 2007, she made her acting debut alongside her father in "I Am Legend". One of her biggest successes came in 2010 with the platinum-certified single "Whip My Hair," which reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Willow Rosenberg
The fictional character appeared in the fantasy television series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997–2003) where she is one of Buffy's best friends. The figure was penned by Joss Whedon and portrayed by Alyson Hannigan.
Willow Bay (*1963)
Bay has managed a literal balancing act, working both as a senior editor for the Huffington Post, as a special correspondent for Bloomberg Television as well as a fashion model. Between 1983 and 1989 she served as a spokesperson for Estée Lauder cosmetics, while she hosted two primetime programs as an anchor for CNN from the end oft he 90s.
When you hear the name Willow, you might first think of a woman or a girl. But did you know that there are also places with the name Willow? Are you also called Willow? Maybe one day you will visit the places that are named just like you...
through white willow trees at the oceanfront park Salem Willow in Massachusetts. Originally created for patients of a hospital, it has served as a public park since 1858.
of Barbie doll – she comes from the fictional town of Willows in Wisconsin, where her parents George and Margaret Roberts live.
onto the Los Angeles Metro Rail system at Willow Street station. It is located adjacent to Long Beach Boulevard at its intersection with Willow Street.
Canada and spend some time relaxing at Willows Beach, a beachfront in Victoria, British Columbia. Along the beach you can take a walk through Willows Park.
This is a real surprise! Willow is a name that has been around for a long time, but only really took off in the 21st century. In the year 2022, it reached its best rank at #36 according to our SmartGenius statistics. This makes Willow much more popular than in previous generations, where it was so rare for several years that it was not even recorded in the statistics. While the name Willow was observed for the first time ever in 1890, it now seems to have found its place in the zeitgeist of the 21st century. In 2022, the year of its highest popularity, the name was given a total of 5,063 times. Whether this beautiful girls' name can repeat or even exceed its previous best ranking in the coming years remains to be seen, but the prospects are promising given the positive trend.
In years where the graph has no value, the name Willow was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.
The name Willow may not be in the top rankings of the most popular girls’ names, but it is one of the few female given names, along with only 536 others, that can be found in every single state in the U.S. from Alaska to Florida and from California to New York. Of course, the name occurs more frequently in some states than in others – and Willow is apparently especially popular in Alaska. Although the name is not one of the top 100 most popular women’s names here either, one in 787 women in Alaska is called Willow. In total, that’s 242 women who feel addressed when the name Willow is shouted loudly across Alaska and who ensure that their name makes it to #226 in our SmartGenius ranking of the most common female names in this nice state. If you asked all women in the entire U.S. for their first name, you would hear Willow as the answer a total of 48,222 times. This places Willow at #526 in our SmartGenius statistics for the most popular women’s names in the whole of the USA. This is true for all currently living women across all states and age groups – the recent popularity of the name Willow as a baby name is, of course, a bit different, as you can see from the statistics above.
Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The W is really rare as a first letter for girls' names: only 0.8% of all common girls' names in the US begin with a W. The most common first letters of girls' names, by the way, are A, S and M, while U, X and Q are the least common initials of girls' names.
With six letters, the name Willow is of average length. In fact, 28% of all common first names in the US consist of exactly six letters. 24% of all first names are shorter, while 48% have seven letters or more. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long. There are no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.
That means that if 0.8% of all girls' names start with a W, all other letters occur on average five times as often as the W. Nevertheless, individual girls' names with W are quite popular, the most common currently being Wanda.
If your name is Willow and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...
So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Willow, you can simply say:
Windmill
Igloo
Lion
Lion
Orange
Windmill
Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.
Willow
Willow
Just use American Sign Language!
These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.
W
I
L
L
O
W
In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.
W
I
L
L
O
W
In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Willow sounds like this:
