Will
About Will
Will has definitely replaced Bill, not only as a nickname for William but as a stand-alone name as well, partly thanks to England's Prince William, also known as Wills. Currently outside the Top 1000 in the US and the UK, it wouldn't feel totally out of style.
Will maintains a nice old-fashioned, down-home charm, and with recent references such as Will Smith, Good Will Hunting, and Will and Grace, it has taken on an air of understated cool.
Most celebrities known as Will were christened William—Shakespeare, legendary humorist Rogers, cartoonist Eisner, and actor Arnett—but others were not. Will Smith was born Willard and Will Ferrell was originally John William.
A key character on Glee was Will Schuester.
Pronounced WIL.
As of October 2026, Will ranked #1195 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #25 in 1882, Nameberry popularity #794.
Editor: Sophie Kihm
Sources: US popularity data is from the Social Security Administration. Meanings and origins are from Nameberry's name references.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #755 | 313 | 162.9 |
| 2015 | #834 | 270 | 140.9 |
| 2016 | #825 | 277 | 146 |
| 2017 | #900 | 239 | 129.1 |
| 2018 | #896 | 242 | 133.2 |
| 2019 | #983 | 217 | 120.9 |
| 2020 | #942 | 234 | 135.6 |
| 2021 | #1,074 | 199 | 113.7 |
| 2022 | #1,161 | 178 | 101.9 |
| 2023 | #1,139 | 185 | 108.2 |
| 2024 | #1,283 | 153 | 88.8 |
| 2025 | #1,195 | 170 | 99.5 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Will.
Will on lists
Famous Wills
- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers
American actor and comedian
- Willard Carroll "Will" Smith
American actor and rapper
- John William "Will" Ferrell
American actor and comedian
- William Emerson "Will" Arnett
American actor
- William Rankin "Will" Patton
American actor
- William Donald "Will" Grigg
Northern Irish footballer
- William Robert "Will" Young
English singer,songwriter
- William Nuschler "Will" Clark
American baseball player
- Orville Willis "Will" Forte
American actor and comedian
- Will Geer (born William Aughe Ghere)
American actor
- William David "Will" Johnson
Canadian soccer player
- William Jack "Will" Poulter
English actor
- William Woodard "Will" Self
English novelist
- Wilbur H. "Will" Jennings
American songwriter
- William "Will" Champion
English drummer of band Coldplay
- William Harrison "Will" Hays
American politician who enacted the Hays Code
- Will Allen
American NFL player
- William "Will" Sasso
Candian actor and comedian
- William Ballard "Will" Hurd
U.S. Congressman from Texas
Will in pop culture
- William "Will" Halstead
character on TV's Chicago Med.
- Will Hunting
main character in film "Good Will Hunting"
- William "Will" Truman
character on TV's Will and Grace
- William "Will" Turner
a main character in the Pirates of the Caribbean films
- Will Graham
character on TV's Hannibal
- Will
character in the Divergent trilogy
- Will Scarlet
one of Robin Hood's Merry Men
- William Harold Ryan "Will" Munson
character in American soap opera, As The World Turns
- Wilbur "Will" Trent
character in the series by Karin Slaughter
- William Michael "Will" Schuester
character on TV's "Glee"
- Will Parry
character in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy
- William "Will" Herondale
character in the Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare
- Will Solace
character in the 'Heroes of Olympus' series (Rick Riordan)
- William "Will" Lawson
character in the novel "Cursed" by Elise Noble
- Will Treaty
main character in John Flanagan's series "Ranger's Apprentice"
- Will Brian
character in "Sufficiently Remarkable"
- Will Tippin
character on TV's Alias
- Will Grayson
name shared by the main characters in John Green and David Levithan's Will Grayson, Will Grayson
- Will
character on TV's "The Fosters"
- Will Byers
a character on TV's "Stranger Things"
- Will Belmont
a character on TV's "Scream"
- Will Lamontagne
character on TV's "Criminal Minds"
- Will Younger
character in film "How It Ends"
- Will Munson
character on "X,Men"
- Wilhelmina/Wilma "Will" Vandom
female Guardian of Quintessence in "W.I.T.C.H" series
- Will Mystery
researcher of Fantasy lands in the Thea Stilton books
- Will Benjamin
character on TV's "H2O: Just Add Water"
- Will
character in the Pokémon video game series
- Will Cloud
character in movie "Cloud 9"