How common is the surname Willson?

9,659 people in the United States had the surname Willson in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 31,965 Americans. It ranked 3,679th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Willson?

Augustus E. Willson, American politician (1846-1931), followed by Paul Willson.

Where is the surname Willson most common?

Wikidata records people named Willson in the United States and the United Kingdom.

How do you pronounce Willson?

Willson is /ˈwɪlsən/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Willson getting more or less common?

More common. 9,154 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 9,659 in 2010, up 5.5%.

The surname Willson

A patronymic surname, carried by 9,659 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈwɪlsən/ 2 syllables Soundex W425

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Willson is more common than 97.7% of them.

Origin

From Will (short form of the given name William) + -son. A less common variant of Wilson.

Willson is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 9,659 people named Willson in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 31,965 Americans. That is up 5.5% since 2000, when the Census counted 9,154.

#3,679

rank among US surnames

9,659

people in 2010

3.3

per 100,000 Americans

+5.5%

change since 2000 (was #3,562)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#3,674	Legg	9,671	31,925
#3,676	Harder	9,665	31,945
#3,677	Bohannon	9,663	31,951
#3,679	Willson	9,659	31,965

Who is named Willson

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

86% of people named Willson identified as white (not Hispanic), 8.1% as Black (not Hispanic) and 3.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 86%
Black (not Hispanic) 8.1%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.0%
Two or more races 1.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.9%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Willsons

4 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Augustus E. Willson
American politician (1846-1931)
Paul Willson
American actor, born 1945
Laura Annie Willson
British engineer and suffragette (1877-1942)
Ashe
American singer-songwriter, born 1993

Notable Willsons come mostly from the United States (3) and the United Kingdom (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Willson

Willson has the Soundex code W425, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code W425.

Questions

Where does the surname Willson come from?: From Will (short form of the given name William) + -son. A less common variant of Wilson.
How common is the surname Willson?: 9,659 people in the United States had the surname Willson in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 31,965 Americans. It ranked 3,679th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Willson?: In the 2010 Census, 86% of people named Willson identified as white (not Hispanic), and 8.1% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Willson?: Augustus E. Willson, American politician (1846-1931), followed by Paul Willson.
Where is the surname Willson most common?: Wikidata records people named Willson in the United States and the United Kingdom.
How do you pronounce Willson?: Willson is /ˈwɪlsən/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Willson?: Willson is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
Is the surname Willson getting more or less common?: More common. 9,154 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 9,659 in 2010, up 5.5%.