9BabyNames Baby names with meanings & US popularity data

Willow vs Amelia

How Willow and Amelia compare across 146 years of US Social Security Administration baby-name records — popularity history, peak years, current rank, and which name overtook which.

Open Name Tournament

Willow

Female · English

Meaning: Slender:Graceful. From The Willow Tree Noted For Slender Graceful Branches And Leaves.

Amelia

Female · German

Meaning: Defender ANSELMA

US Popularity History — Side-by-Side

Annual US births named Willow (girls) vs Amelia (girls), from US Social Security Administration national records.

Source: US Social Security Administration. Names appearing fewer than 5 times per year are suppressed by SSA.

Quick Stats

Metric Willow Amelia
Peak year (most US births) 2021 — 5,193 girls 2021 — 13,032 girls
Peak rank #39 #4
Most recent rank (2025) #44 (4,763 births) #4 (12,699 births)
Total US births since 1880 61,916 204,529
Last 10 years (2016–2025) 44,059 124,049

Peak comparison takeaway

At its all-time peak, Amelia reached 13,032 US births in 2021 — 7,839 more than Willow's peak count.

Strongest States — Last 10 Years

States where each name ranked highest, from SSA's state-level dataset. Lower average rank = name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name list.

Willow — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 West Virginia #10 548
2 Arkansas #18 624
3 Kentucky #18 1,086
4 Tennessee #20 1,565
5 Indiana #21 1,413

Amelia — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 Louisiana #3 1,899
2 Alaska #3 333
3 Indiana #3 2,887
4 West Virginia #3 747
5 Kentucky #3 1,855

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Data & methodology

Source: US Social Security Administration national baby names dataset 1880–2025 (CC0 public domain). Names with fewer than 5 occurrences in a given year are suppressed by SSA. State-level coverage runs 1910–2025. Crossover detection compares annual birth counts (not ranks) for each year both names appear. Methodology: see full notes. More comparisons →