Once upon a time, in the now distant past, popularity lists–particularly for boys–were teeming with names starting with the letter ‘W’.

　　In 1920, for example, there were twenty-seven of them in the boys’ Top 500, including every conceivable appendage to the first syllable Wil. Aside from the eternal William, there were Willie, Willard, Wilbur, Willis, Wilbert, Wilfred, Wilson, Wilmer, Wilburn, Wilford, and Wilton, while for girls there were ten W‘s, topped by Willie at Number 74.

　　By 1950, the  number of W-_boys had shrunk down to nineteen, but with many of the Wil_s hanging in, and in that year only five girls remained: Wanda, Wendy, Wilma, Winifred and the surprisingly persistent female Willie.  The 1980 Top 500 saw most of the fustier boys’ names having retired, leaving only seven stalwarts and just Wendy and newcomer Whitney among the girls. Currently, there are a mere five _W-_guys remaining in the Top 500—William, Wyatt, Wesley, Waylon and Warren, and one lone girl—Willow.  There are a few others in the bottom half of the list, including Wilson, Westin and Winston, and the rising Willa.

　　But I’m sensing that the tide is about to turn, with a renewed interest in both the vintage _W-_names–many of which have that trendy Western feel– and some fresher options that are attracting attention.  From the starbaby perspective alone, we’ve seen Rainn Wilson’s Walter, Jenna Fisher’s Weston, Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Willa, Billie Piper’s Winston and several Willows, to name a few.

　　Here’s a rundown of the _W-_names I see on the frontier of this resurgence :

　　REVIVABLE GIRLS

　　Wallis

　　Wanda

　　Wilhelmina

　　Willa

　　Wilma

　　Winifred

　　Winnie

　　NEWER GIRLS

　　Waverly

　　West

　　Willow

　　Winter

　　Wren

　　Wynn, Wynne

　　REVIVABLE BOYS

　　Wade

　　Walden

　　Waldo

　　Walker

　　Wallace

　　Wally

　　Walter

　　Walton

　　Ward

　　Warner

　　Warren

　　Watson

　　Waylon

　　Webb

　　Webster

　　Wendell

　　Wesley

　　Weston

　　Whit

　　Wilkie

　　Willem

　　Willie

　　Wilson

　　Winslow

　　Winston

　　Woodrow

　　NEWER BOYS

　　West

　　Wheeler

　　Wilder

　　Willoughby

　　Wisdom

　　Wolf

　　Worthy

　　Wyatt

　　Wylie/Wiley

　　Wynn

　　Do you have any _W-_names on your list?