Will

Where Will comes from

Clipping of William or Willow, less often, other given names beginning with Wil-, such as Wilfred or Willard.
— Wiktionary's entry for Will
  • 1 syllable
Along the way
  1. 1879
    Will Rogers born
    American humorist and entertainer
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #27 among boys — 588 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1882
    Peak, #25
    666 babies named Will — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1903
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #74.
  5. 1917
    Will Eisner born
    American cartoonist, writer and entrepreneur
In the dictionary
  • A diminutive of the male given name William or, less often, other given names beginning with Wil-, such as Wilfred or Willard, from the Germanic languages; also used as a formal given name.
  • A diminutive of the female given name Willow.
Namesakes
  • Will Rogers · American humorist and entertainer, 1879–1935
  • Will Eisner · American cartoonist, writer and entrepreneur, 1917–2005
  • Will Patton · American actor, born 1954
  • Will Grigg · association football player, born 1991
  • Will Forte · American actor, comedian, writer, born 1970

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.