How common is the surname Willey?

13,067 people in the United States had the surname Willey in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 23,628 Americans. It ranked 2,759th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Willey?

In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Willey identified as white (not Hispanic), and 1.8% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Willey?

Gordon Willey, American archaeologist (1913–2002), followed by Calvin Willey.

Where is the surname Willey most common?

Wikidata records people named Willey in the United States.

Is the surname Willey getting more or less common?

Less common. 13,145 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 13,067 in 2010, down 0.6%.

The surname Willey

An English place surname, carried by 13,067 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex W400

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Willey is more common than 98.3% of them.

Origin

English origin

From Old English welig (“willow”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”). Equivalent to willow + -ley (“lea”).

Willey is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 13,067 people named Willey in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 23,628 Americans. That is down 0.6% since 2000, when the Census counted 13,145.

#2,759

rank among US surnames

13,067

people in 2010

4.4

per 100,000 Americans

-0.6%

change since 2000 (was #2,521)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#2,750	Pringle	13,115	23,541
#2,751	Padron	13,114	23,543
#2,752	Condon	13,109	23,552
#2,754	Wiles	13,105	23,559
#2,755	Garibay	13,088	23,590
#2,756	Santillan	13,081	23,603
#2,758	Westfall	13,079	23,606

Who is named Willey

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

94% of people named Willey identified as white (not Hispanic), 1.8% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.5% as Black (not Hispanic).

White (not Hispanic) 94%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.8%
Black (not Hispanic) 1.5%
Two or more races 1.5%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Willeys

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Gordon Willey
American archaeologist (1913–2002)
Calvin Willey
American politician (1776–1858)
Waitman T. Willey
American politician (1811-1900)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Willey

Willey has the Soundex code W400, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code W400.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Willey come from?: From Old English welig (“willow”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”). Equivalent to willow + -ley (“lea”).
How common is the surname Willey?: 13,067 people in the United States had the surname Willey in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 23,628 Americans. It ranked 2,759th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Willey?: In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Willey identified as white (not Hispanic), and 1.8% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Willey?: Gordon Willey, American archaeologist (1913–2002), followed by Calvin Willey.
Where is the surname Willey most common?: Wikidata records people named Willey in the United States.
What type of surname is Willey?: Willey is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Willey getting more or less common?: Less common. 13,145 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 13,067 in 2010, down 0.6%.