Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name Billy?
Births per year, rank history and how many Billies are alive today.
Billy (male) sits just outside the top 100 boys' names in England and Wales, ranked 110th in 2025 with 481 babies given the name. The name peaked in 2005, when 955 babies were given the name, the 71st most popular that year. It was almost as popular in 1996, with 914 babies given the name that year. Its fortunes dipped to rank 140 in 2018 before climbing back to the 110th place it holds today. Numbers have been stable in recent years. At least 24,000 babies have been named Billy in England and Wales since the 1980s. Figures before 1996 are estimates. Billy is also a common short form of William, so many people called Billy are registered under the longer name.
The Billy you are most likely to meet is around 29 years old. Half of all Billies born in England and Wales are between 13 and 30, and there are at least 24,000 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 males, there's roughly a 7.6% chance that at least one of them will be called Billy.
How many babies are named Billy each year?
Where does Billy rank among boys' names?
Where this data comes from
Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.
One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.
Common questions
When was the name Billy most popular?
Billy peaked in 2005, when 955 babies in England and Wales were given the name.
How many people are called Billy?
At least 24,000 people named Billy born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical Billy?
Most living Billies are between 13 and 30; the most common age is about 29.
Is Billy becoming more or less popular?
Broadly steady in recent years.