Willa
Top 1000
About Willa
Willa has become increasingly fashionable, with its combination of Willa (born Wilella) Cather-like pioneer strength and the graceful beauty of the willow tree.
Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas are the latest celebrities to welcome a daughter named Willa. Other stars who used this name include actress Keri Russell, who named her daughter Willa Lou and the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who used Willa for the youngest of his three children. David Mamet and Brian De Palma also have daughters named Willa, plus it's the middle name of Meryl Streep's actress daughter Mary (called Mamie.) Young Willa characters have appears on Six Feet Under and True Blood.
Willa originated as a short form of Wilhelmina. After a half-century hiatus, it reentered the U.S. Top 1000 in 2010 and soared to the Top 500, for the first time since 1949, in 2015. Willa might also work as an honor name for an ancestral William.
Pronounced WIL-uh.
As of October 2026, Willa ranked #422 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #274 in 1932, Nameberry popularity #73.
Editor's take: The name Willa is a girl's name of German origin meaning "resolute protection".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #551 | 562 | 314.6 |
| 2015 | #481 | 675 | 378.1 |
| 2016 | #461 | 689 | 388.8 |
| 2017 | #453 | 699 | 404.9 |
| 2018 | #383 | 813 | 477.9 |
| 2019 | #356 | 889 | 529.7 |
| 2020 | #351 | 886 | 548.1 |
| 2021 | #350 | 887 | 540.6 |
| 2022 | #396 | 791 | 482.3 |
| 2023 | #428 | 721 | 449.3 |
| 2024 | #423 | 729 | 449.9 |
| 2025 | #422 | 742 | 461.7 |
World rankings
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Willa on lists
Famous Willas
- Willa of Tuscany
Queen consort of Berengar II of Italy
- Wilella Sibert 'Willa' Cather
American novelist
- Willa Joanna Chance Holland
American actress; stepdaughter of director Brian De Palma
- Willa Ford (born Amanda Lee Williford)
American singer
- Willa Beatrice Brown
American aviatrix
- Willa McCord Blake Eslick
U.S. Congresswoman from Tennessee
- Willa Fitzgerald
American actress
- Willa Holland
American actress
- Willa Taylor
American actress
- Willa Shalit
American entrepreneur; daughter of TV personality Gene Shalit
- Willa Mamet
daughter of playwright David Mamet and actress Lindsay Crouse; sister of actress Zosia Mamet
- Willa Baker (b. 1993)
daughter of actors Dylan and Becky Ann Baker
- Willa Hoffman (b. 2008)
daughter of actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman
- Willa Sun Pressnall (b. 2009)
daughter of musicians Derek and Jamie Pressnall of Tilly and the Wall
- Willa Lou Deary (b. 2011)
daughter of actress Keri Russell
- Willa Jean Batson (b. 2013)
daughter of singer Ferraby Lionheart and Dawn Batson
- Willa Getzlaf (b. 2014)
daughter of ice hockey player Ryan Getzlaf
- Willa Ashford (b. 2015)
daughter of actor Matthew Ashford
- Willa Gray Akins (b. 2017)
daughter of singer Thomas Rhett and Laura Akins
- Willa Jonas (b. 2020)
daughter of Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas
Willa in pop culture
- Willa Burrell
baby vampire on TV's "True Blood"
- Willa Jean Kemp
character in the Ramona Quimby novels by Beverly Cleary
- Willa Jackson
main character in "The Peach Keeper" by Sarah Addison Allen
- Isabella "Willa" Angelo
character in Ridley Pearson's "Kingdom Keepers"
- Willa Monday
character on TV's "The Finder"
- "Willa's Wild Life
" animated TV series
- Willa Thirdman
character in "Friends and Relations" (1931) by Elizabeth Bowen
- Willa
called a "cute name" by Hank Hill of TV's "King of the Hill'
- Willa
minor character in George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series
- Willa Fisher Chenowith
daughter of Nate & Brenda on TV's "Six Feet Under"
- Willa Penn
younger sister of Beverly Penn in book/film "Winter's Tale"
- Willa McPherson
character on TV's "Dirt"
- Willa Givens
Raylan's daughter on TV show "Justified"
- Willa Warren
character on TV's "The Family"
- Willafred (Willa) Havisham
main character of "The Wedding Planner's Daughter"
- Willa Earp
character on TV's "Wynonna Earp"
- Willa Forsythe
character in "Shadows over England" romance series