Name of the Week: Willow

 

 

Origin:

Willow is the name of a type of deciduous tree found in Britain which are usually found by river banks.  The name Willow derives from the Old English name for the willow - welig. This, in turn, most likely derives from the Proto-Indo-European *wei- "to bend, to twist."

Usage:

The surname Willows, which was originally used to denote someone who dwelt by willows, dates from the 13th century.  As with most surnames, Willows has been used as a given name since at least the 17th century, mostly for boys. Willow as a give name, however, is very modern in usage. By the late 19th century, floral names were extremely popular. Tree names, such as Olive, Hazel and Myrtle, also came into use around this time and Willow was among them in very small numbers.  There are some earlier anomalies in the birth index, such as girls named Willow Mena or Willow Mina (clearly intended to mean Wilhelmina). One of the earliest to be given the name was a girl named Willow Harrison Myhill born in 1872. Overall, however, Willow was rare, and only established itself properly as a given name in the 1970s -- this time, exclusively for girls.  Records for Willow in the England and Wales Birth Index: 1840s: 1850s: 1860s: 1870s: 1880s: 1890s: 1900s: 1910s: 1920s: 1930s: 1940s: 1950s: 1960s: 1970s: 1980s: 0 births 0 births 0 births 2 births 4 births 1 birth 3 births 4 births 6 births 9 births 4 births 3 births 3 births 27 births 12 births The establishment of the name in the 1970s can be traced to the 1973 British horror film The Wicker Man, in which Britt Ekland plays the beautiful landlord's daughter, Willow MacGregor. The film features several other arboreal names for the inhabitants of Summerisle, including Rowan, Alder, Myrtle and May -- a link to the wicker theme.  In 1997, Willow ranked #983 with 21 births.  In this same year period, the hit TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered, featured Alyson Hannigan in the role of Buffy's plucky, loyal and clever friend, Willow Rosenburg (1997-2003). It's impossible not to see the impact that the show had on the name. Willow leapt up to #597 (43 births) in 1998, and then took another significant leap in 2001 when it went from #427 (58 births) to #251 (158 births).  Willow reached the top 200 in 2007 and the top 100 in 2011 when it ranked #75 (772 births). It has continued to rise swiftly ever since.  In Scotland, from 1974 to 2000, Willow was registered once in 1979, 1989, 1992 and 1999, and three times in 1995. It moved up to #284 (11 births) in 2002 but then fell below the top 300 until 2007. From that point it began to rise, reaching #89 (55 births) in 2012. In 2017, Willow ranked #26 with 1,764 births in England and Wales (#27 in England and #16 in Wales separately), and #45 with 111 births in Scotland.

Famous Bearers:

Contemporary: * Willow Shields (b. 2000), American actress. * Willow Smith (b. 2000), American actress and singer, daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. Literature and Other Media: * Willow MacGregor, a character in the film The Wicker Man (1973). * Willow Woodward, a character in the film The Wicker Man (2006). * Willow Rosenberg, a character in the television program Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003). * Willow Ufgood, the title (male) character from the 1988 film Willow. * Willow, a character from Tangled: The Series. * Willow Stark, a character in the American soap opera Days of our Lives.

Variants:

N/A

Pronunciation:

WIL-ō [key]

Possible  diminutives:

Billie, Will, Willa

Sibling Names:

Summer     Layla     Pippa     Niamh     Ivy     Autumn  Rowan     Fraser     Jude     Lucas     Noah     Oscar

Name Lists:

Arboreal Names

 

If you like Willow you may also like:   Orla, Robyn, Poppy, Esme, Maya, Scarlett, Ebony, Phoebe, Zara, Freya

Thanks to Kate for requesting this name.