# Wallace (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/wallace/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Norman |
| Meaning | “foreign” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈwɑləs/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | Wal |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 83,851 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 83,263 / 588 (1% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 132, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

An Old English byname for a Welshman or Breton, from Anglo-Norman waleis (“foreign”); see wǣlisċ.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1967 | 5 | 7,828 |
| 1969 | 10 | 5,047 |
| 1977 | 5 | 11,297 |
| 1980 | 6 | 10,364 |
| 1982 | 5 | 12,281 |
| 1986 | 5 | 12,786 |
| 2001 | 7 | 13,459 |
| 2013 | 6 | 16,421 |
| 2016 | 9 | 11,726 |
| 2019 | 12 | 9,083 |
| 2020 | 9 | 11,033 |
| 2021 | 8 | 12,134 |
| 2022 | 5 | 17,609 |
| 2023 | 6 | 15,073 |
| 2025 | 6 | 14,828 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 86 | 1,729 |
| 2012 | 104 | 1,542 |
| 2013 | 143 | 1,241 |
| 2014 | 138 | 1,293 |
| 2015 | 154 | 1,204 |
| 2016 | 198 | 1,019 |
| 2017 | 197 | 1,023 |
| 2018 | 249 | 882 |
| 2019 | 245 | 895 |
| 2020 | 244 | 919 |
| 2021 | 258 | 892 |
| 2022 | 234 | 970 |
| 2023 | 216 | 1,016 |
| 2024 | 229 | 984 |
| 2025 | 241 | 964 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 5 | 2,870 |
| 2007 | 5 | 3,095 |
| 2010 | 4 | 3,865 |
| 2012 | 5 | 3,416 |
| 2013 | 4 | 3,822 |
| 2015 | 4 | 3,908 |
| 2017 | 9 | 2,324 |
| 2018 | 5 | 3,412 |
| 2019 | 4 | 3,937 |
| 2020 | 9 | 2,228 |
| 2021 | 18 | 1,391 |
| 2022 | 7 | 2,755 |
| 2023 | 8 | 2,546 |
| 2024 | 9 | 2,443 |
| 2025 | 9 | 2,440 |

## People named Wallace

- Wallace Stevens, American poet (1879–1955)
- Wallace Shawn, American actor and playwright
- Wallace Beery, American actor (1885-1949)
- Wallace Carothers, American organic chemist (1896–1937)
- William Wallace Campbell, American astronomer (1862–1938)
- Wallace Stegner, American historian, writer, and environmentalist (1909-1993)
- Wallace Spearmon, American sprinter
- Wallace Reid, American actor (1891–1923)
- Wallace Langham, American actor
- Charles Wallace Richmond, American ornithologist (1868-1932)
- Wallace Hartley, band leader on the RMS Titanic (1878–1912)
- William Wallace Denslow, American illustrator and caricaturist (1856–1915)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.