The baby name Willow marries a gentle nature vibe with plenty of pop culture currency.
Thanks to Nicole for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
SLENDER and SIGNIFICANT
Flower names have been big across the generations. In the late twentieth century, tree names joined the list and have gone mainstream.
The Old English word welig is the original form. It evolved to wilghe, then wilwe before reaching the modern willow sometime around the 1300s. The wel- element refers to a curve.
Willowy means slender and graceful. But that’s just the beginning of the name’s significance.
The Jewish feast of Sukkot includes willow branches in several ceremonies, based on a verse in Leviticus.
Buddhists associate willow branches with compassion, as well as flexibility – of course.
Japanese and Native American traditional stories also attribute supernatural powers to the willow. Doubtless more examples link the baby name Willow to other cultures and meanings.
STORY and SONG
One meaning familiar to many: wisdom. That’s courtesy of at least two children’s stories. Hans Christian Anderson wrote an 1853 story where children asked questions of a willow tree. In Disney’s 1995 movie Pocahontas, the heroine did the same, calling the tree Grandmother Willow.
The trees aren’t always associated with positive meanings. 1907 Algernon Blackwood novella The Willows puts an eerie spin on the trees, calling them menacing. While it’s not well known more than a century later, it remains broadly influential in the horror genre and beyond.
Blackwood wasn’t the first. Shakespeare himself borrowed the tree for Hamlet. Ophelia falls from a willow tree to her death.
On a very different note, beloved 1908 children’s novel The Wind in the Willows lends an enduring innocence to the name.
The jazz standard “Willow Weep for Me” first became a hit in 1932. Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone, and Diana Krall are among the many to record the song since. Composer Ann Ronell drew inspiration from the willow trees on the campus of Radcliffe College.
The 1976 horror film The Wicker Man – remade in 2006 – gave nature names like Rowan and, yes, Willow to the pagan residents of the island in Scotland where the events take place.
HEROIC WILLOW
Pop culture references put the baby name Willow center stage:
In the 1988 fantasy film Willow became an unlikely hero. It was also masculine in the movie. JRR Tolkein had used the name for a minor male character, too. Disney Plus delivered a new television series, also titled Willow, in 2022. Warwick Davis returns as the sorcerer Willow Ufgood, called upon to save the world once more.
The grounds of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts include a tree called the Whomping Willow, which features in many a plot line. But despite the Wizarding World’s love of nature names, there’s no major character answering to the name.
BEWITCHING WILLOW
Despite constant references, the baby name Willow remained rare. Until, that is, we met another hero.
The movie version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer mostly fell flat. But in 1997, The WB rebooted Buffy, this time as a television series, re-balancing the mix of horror and comedy. It was a hit, and would run for seven seasons, jumping networks mid-run to UPN.
The show also introduced us to Willow Rosenberg. In early seasons, she’s a brilliant outsider. Her smarts help Buffy save the world, again and again. She’s more a computer genius at first, but she begins to dabble in witchcraft. Eventually, her magical powers rival the vampire slayer’s otherworldly ability.
The baby name Willow boomed after the series’ debut, entering the US Top 1000 in 1998.
BY the NUMBERS
While Buffy’s bewitching ally almost certainly deserves credit for tipping the name into the Top 1000, it’s worth noting earlier uses helped, too.
Pocahontas drove a tiny bump in the name’s use.
And it was in use. Other figures include journalist-turned-academic Willow Bay (though she was born Kristine) and Sarah Palin’s daughter Willow, whose 1994 birth also pre-dates Buffy.
But back in the 1980s and early 1990s, the numbers were tiny. 37 girls in 1985; 90 girls in 1995.
That’s not zero. And five girls received the name as far back as 1890, so it’s possible you might know a senior citizen who was given the baby name Willow back in the day.
But no question pop culture transformed the baby name Willow from a quietly-rising possibility to a fast-gaining favorite.
In 1996, 125 girls and 7 boys received the name. By 1999, when Buffy was a smash hit, those numbers were 310 girls and 12 boys.
But something even more significant was about to happen to the baby name Willow.
WILL’S DAUGHTER
It doesn’t get much more Hollywood A-list than Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.
The couple welcomed a son in 1998 and named him Jaden, inspired by his mom. When their daughter came along two years later? They named her Willow, for her dad. It’s a clever, unexpected take on the traditional Will. And it opened the door to others considering Willow as an honor name for classic William. (Though Smith’s given name is Willard Carroll Smith Jr.)
Willow Smith, of course, has gone on to become a celebrity in her own right, mixing music and fashion with acting. Her career promises to keep the baby name Willow in the spotlight.
COMING of AGE
The baby name Willow has been popular long enough that early Willows are now coming of age.
American actress Willow Shields is best known as Prim from The Hunger Games movies. (Her family embraced nature names – Willow’s sibling names are River and Autumn.)
Soap opera Days of Our Lives used the name for a character. So does the animated Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventures on the Disney Channel but in that case, it’s a nickname for Wilhelmina.
Now the baby name Willow vies with similar names, from nineteenth century revival Hazel to more modern examples of the trend, like Rowan, for popularity.
It’s not just an American phenomenon. The name’s mix of elegance and grace with a modern sound and so many familiar uses has pushed Willow into wider use across the English-speaking world, including Canada, Australia, and the UK. It makes the England & Wales Top Ten for 2021.
The spelling Wyllow remains rare, but is also increasing in use.
MODERN STAPLE
All of this propelled the baby name Willow to #289 by 2010. In 2016, it entered the US Top 100 at #96. As of 2021, the name stands at #39 – an all-time high.
That’s less common than Lily or even Violet … but well ahead of many a nature name.
Plus, Willow the movie is about to be revisited as Willow, the Disney Plus series. That might push more parents to name their sons Willow, or it might encourage more
With rich meaning and symbolism, and a stylish, modern sound, the baby name Willow could be a Top 100 favorite for years to come.
What do you think of the baby name Willow?
First published on November 19, 2010, this post was revised and re-published on August 3, 2021 and again on January 25, 2023.
I like both Willa and Willow. I especially like Willow because it’s one of the few girls names that ends with a long O.
Willow is traditionally a boys name
It definitely saw some use for boys in the 1990s, but the numbers have consistently given Willow to the girls in the US. There are lots of Will- names, like Willulf, that are all but lost today, and there is an obscure saint whose name is sometimes listed as Wyllow. There’s no reason Willow couldn’t be used for boys, but I think it’s a stretch to call it traditional. It’s a very modern choice as a given name, and over the last century-plus, usage makes this one feminine.
I love nature names especially on girls. Willow is one of them. I haven’t met any Willow, the only Willow I know of is Will Smith’s daughter, Willow. Lovely name.
I still think it is one of most clever ways to name a child after a parent without resorting to junior.
I met a little boy baby called Willow – I guess that was back in 2005. I was surprised, as I’ve only ever thought of it as a girl’s name. I don’t think I’ve met any little girl Willows.
I do somewhat like the name, but it seems slightly 80s or 90s or something – I guess with what you said about not being as classic as Rose or Lily.
Thanks for doing this name. My husband and I adore this name. I love its femininity and that it is almost nn proof. I love the W names and the familiar yet unexpectedness of it. I do worry that with the rising career of Willow Smith it might become too popular, but I still love the name. Willow and Phoebe are battling it out for a 2nd daughters name.. our first would be Juliet.
There aren’t many girls (or boys names, for that matter) that begin “W” I like. Willow is one I’ve tried to like, but I can’t. There’s nothing wrong with it, I just don’t like it. I wish I could find a “W” name that I do like, for baby name games, if nothing else.
One of my neighbor’s kids is named Willa, which I find quite soft and feminine and a bit ironic on a boisterous, tomboy. Willow feels tougher and more modern. My favorite of the bunch is Wilhelmina.
Not my bag but I have no issue with the name whatsoever. It’s been in use for a good two hundred or so years and like with Ruby, Ivy and a few other naturey examples, it is something I wish was still ‘acceptable’ to use on boys.
I hear it called flaky and wish-washy a lot but meh. I think it has more gravitas than currently popular, “purty” plant names Lily, Daisy, Jasmine, Poppy (popular here in NZ at least) and feels more akin to gutsier names like Hazel, Rowan and Ivy. I also like its important medicinal history.
As for other Wil- names, I like Wilhelmina despite its archaic, stuffy grannypants vibe. Willa is ok but more lightweight and less distinctive compared with that -o ending.
There is just something about Willow. I adore it!
When my cousin was a teenager she worked at a summer camp as a counselor. She was instructed to choose a “camp name” for the duration of her time at the camp, and the name she selected was Willow — I don’t really know why. That was the first time I’d come across the word as a name. I found it pretty then, and I find it pretty now. However, it’s not a name I like enough to ever consider using myself.
Oh, and I think you mean the 1988 film, not the 1998 film ;o)
Right you are – thanks!
I have a (2nd? What do you call your cousin’s child?) cousin named Willow Simone. I’ve never asked but now I think about it Willow is probably after our grandfather Billy. My cousin is also a bit of a hippy. I know that Simone is after Nina.
I do like Willow Simone as a combo – feminine, but restrained.
Your cousin’s child is your first cousin once removed.
I have been told that it is your second cousin. Regardless, I call my cousin’s children my cousins and leave it at that.
Me, too, Biz – I have lots of cousins, but most of them are a step or two removed.