Explore the Family Name Willow

The meaning of Willow

English: topographic name from Middle English wilwe, wilghe, wil(l)owe ‘willow’ (Old English wilig, welig), for a person who lived at or near a willow tree, or in an area where willow trees grew.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Willow in the United States?

In terms of popularity, the surname Willow has seen a slight decrease in its rank between 2000 and 2010 according to data from the Decennial U.S. Census. In 2000, Willow was ranked 27,802nd most common surname in the United States. By 2010, it had fallen to the 28,998th spot which marked a 4.3% drop. However, this did not greatly affect the actual count of individuals with the Willow surname which slightly increased over the same period. The census recorded 814 people named Willow in 2000 and this number rose marginally by 0.61% to 819 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#27,802	#28,998	-4.3%
Count	814	819	0.61%
Proportion per 100k	0.3	0.28	-6.67%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Willow

On the subject of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals that the Willow surname was predominantly associated with the White ethnic identity in both 2000 and 2010, although its proportion decreased by 5.5% over the decade. Interestingly, there was no record of anyone with the Willow surname identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander or having two or more races in 2000, but by 2010 about 0.98% identified as such. There were also meaningful increases in the proportions of the Willow surname found amongst the Hispanic, Black, and American Indian and Alaskan Native populations, with rises of 57.89%, 62.66%, and 11.77% respectively during the ten-year period.

	2000	2010	Change
White	79.98%	75.58%	-5.5%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	13.76%	15.38%	11.77%
Black	2.33%	3.79%	62.66%
Hispanic	2.09%	3.3%	57.89%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.98%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0.98%	0%