Recorded 1880–2025 · United States
Billy was most popular in 1934, when 9,659 American babies were given the name — ranking #35 that year. In 2025 it ranked #2,098, with 217 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 389,665 people named Billy.
The Social Security Administration’s records begin in 1880, and Billy is already there in that first year — so the name is older than the record and these figures cannot date it. It has been recorded in 145 of the 146 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 389,665 American births named Billy between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 198,184 are estimated to be alive today.
217 American babies were named Billy in 2025, ranking #2,098 that year.
Billy is falling. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 221 births a year, against 338 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -35% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Billy is a boy’s name — 1.4% of the 389,665 Americans given it were girls and 98.6% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 4% girls and 96% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 198,184 Americans named Billy are alive today — 51% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 64 years old, and half are between 50 and 75.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
English · short form of William
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Billy on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org