Willoughby

Spellings & scripts●(measured from records)

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●(measured from records)

Attested across 2 languages in the etymology graph.

Often considered alongside

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Willoughby, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Montgomery
• Hawthorne
• Chadwick
• Kirby
• Bartholomew
• Llewelyn
• Florian
• Rigby
• Whitley
• Warner
• Darby
• Quincy

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Other recorded senses●(measured from records)

Willoughby is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, from Willoughby, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire; first attested Robert de Wilgebi 1175–84 YCh

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• Transferred use of the surname, in origin a local name from any of various places in northern England so called from Old English welig ‘willow’ + Old Norse byr ‘settlement’.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In English, various places, for example in Leics., Lines., Notts., and Warwicks., so called. This is from OE wilig willow + ON byr farm, settlement, or perhaps in some cases from wilig + OE beag ring (cf. Wilby). Vars. (of 3): Winde, Windt.

  as a name·The Oxford Names Companion - The definitive guide to Surnames, First Names, and Place Names of the British Isles

• In English, Any of several placenames in England and elsewhere:

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In English, city, OH; pers. name

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Notable people with this name●(measured from records)

• Catherine Willoughby, 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresbyb. 1519GBEnglish Baroness (1519–1580)
• Francis Willughbyb. 1635GBnot in their usual nameEnglish ornithologist and ichthyologist
• Willoughby Newtonb. 1802USpolitician from Virginia, USA (1802-1874)
• Willoughby Smithb. 1828GBBritish engineer (1828–1891)
• Willoughby James Hamiltonb. 1864IEIrish tennis and badminton player (1864–1943)
• Charles A. Willoughbyb. 1892DEUS Army Intelligence Officer (1892–1972)
• Willoughby Norrie, 1st Baron Norrieb. 1893GBmilitary leader, viceroy (1893–1977)
• Willoughby Grayb. 1916GBBritish actor (1916–1993)
• Kim Willoughbyb. 1980USAmerican volleyball player
• Holly Willoughbyb. 1981GBEnglish television presenter, model and author

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●(measured from records)

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Frequently asked questions

What does the name Willoughby mean, and where does it come from?

‘person from Willoughby’, the name of various places in England, mostly ‘farmstead by willow trees’. Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].

In which country does Willoughby have the most bearers?

Mondonomo estimates about 51 thousand people named Willoughby in China, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled willoughby.

How common is the name Willoughby?

In the United States, the national register counted 16,111 people named Willoughby in 2010, about 1 in 21 thousand residents.