Wally
Pronounced W AO1 L IY0 (ARPABET)
- 2 syllables
- Peaked 1959
- 140 years in use
- 2 spellings
How popular is Wally?
Wally is a boys' name, and first appears in 1885. It has been given to 5,559 children — the 1,486th most common boys' name on record.
It is still recorded, but barely: 145 births across the past decade, against a peak of 190 in a single year. That peak was in 1959.
Two other spellings are counted in that total — Wallie and Walley — because they are pronounced identically.
Spelling variants
These spellings sound identical to Wally and are counted together with it, which is why the totals here are higher than a single-spelling count.
- Wallie
- Walley
Nicknames
Wally is itself a short form of Walter.
Characteristics
- 2 syllables
Phonetic detail
- Pronunciations:
- W AO1 L IY0 · W EY1 L IY0
- Stress pattern:
- 10 · 10
- Syllables:
- 2
Stress digits mark unstressed (0), primary (1) and secondary (2) syllables.
Names like Wally
Same first letter and syllable count, peaking around the same time.
Sibling names for Wally
Names from the same era with a matching rhythm but a different initial.
Frequently asked questions
- How popular is the name Wally?
- Wally ranks 1,486th among boys' names in US records, with 5,559 births since 1885. Over the past decade it accounts for 145.
- Is Wally a unisex name?
- No. Wally is recorded almost entirely as a boys' name; births to the other gender are too few to register as a share.
- When was Wally most popular?
- 1959, when 190 children were given the name. It has been in use for 140 years and is still recorded as of 2024.
- How else is Wally spelled?
- Wallie, Walley. All of these sound the same and are counted together in the totals on this page.