Meaning of the nameWillis

Willis is a male name of English origin, passed down from the surname Willis, which derives from Will, a short form of William.

Meaning

“derived from Will, a short form of William, which combines 'will, desire' and 'helmet, protection'”

Source: Wiktionary: Willis · Behind the Name: Willis · Behind the Name: William

People (2022): 1,361
Rank in Brazil: #6,714
Median age: 34 years
2010 Census: 1,208; people

Willis in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Willis, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1980s (380 people).

0 women 1,343 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Willis is most common

States with the highest share of people named Willis in the population, in the 2022 Census.

Espírito Santo 0.004%
Rio de Janeiro 0.001%
Bahia 0.001%
Minas Gerais 0.001%
São Paulo 0.000%

All states

State	People	% of population
São Paulo	177	0.000%
Rio de Janeiro	151	0.001%
Espírito Santo	146	0.004%
Bahia	111	0.001%
Minas Gerais	106	0.001%
Goiás	71	0.001%
Pernambuco	70	0.001%
Pará	65	0.001%
Amazonas	62	0.002%
Ceará	52	0.001%
Paraná	41	0.000%
Sergipe	39	0.002%
Alagoas	38	0.001%
Paraíba	33	0.001%
Maranhão	26	0.000%
Mato Grosso	26	0.001%
Santa Catarina	21	0.000%
Tocantins	21	0.001%
Rondônia	18	0.001%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Willis

Wiktionary records Willis as a male name transferred from the English surname, which arose as a patronymic of the name Will. Behind the Name says that Will is a short form of William, a Germanic name formed from elements meaning 'will, desire' and 'helmet, protection'. The meaning is therefore that of the base name William, not a meaning of Willis itself. The Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil (Dictionary of Names in Use in Brazil) lists Willys and Wyllys as spelling variants. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 1,361 people named Willis, with a median age of 34; proportionally, it is most common in Espírito Santo.

Sources

Wiktionary: Willis · en.wiktionary.org · meaning
Behind the Name: Willis · behindthename.com · meaning
Behind the Name: William · behindthename.com · meaning
Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Willis · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · spelling

Questions about the name Willis

What does the name Willis mean?

Willis means “derived from Will, a short form of William, which combines 'will, desire' and 'helmet, protection'”, according to Wiktionary and Behind the Name.

How many people are named Willis in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 1,361 people with the first name Willis, which ranks it number 6,714 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1980s.

Is Willis a boy's or a girl's name?

Willis is a male name: in the 2022 Census, 0 women and 1,343 men had this name (IBGE does not publish very small counts).

What is the origin of the name Willis?

Willis is a name of English and Germanic origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Willis most common?

Proportionally, in Espírito Santo: 0.004% of the state's population is named Willis (146 people), according to the 2022 Census.

More names of English origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Willis with a source. See the methodology.