James or William

William is the more popular boy name in Canada, #5 to #8 in 2024. William is the more popular boy name in England and Wales, #25 to #42 in 2025. James is the more popular boy name in the USA, #5 to #10 in 2024. The two countries disagree on which is ahead.

James on its own page William on its own page

Place by place

Each place ranks its own registered births, so the two names are compared inside one list at a time, in that place's most recent complete year.

Where each place ranks James against William, in that place's most recent complete year.JamesWilliam#1#10#25#50Canada#8 → #5 ↑3England and Wales#42 → #25 ↑17USA#5 → #10 ↓5Alberta#12 → #6 ↑6British Columbia#18 → #10 ↑8Ontario#11 → #12 ↓1Quebec#16 → #4 ↑12
PlaceYear James William Ahead
Canada2024#8#5William
England and Wales2025#42#25William
USA2024#5#10James
Alberta2024#12#6William
British Columbia2024#18#10William
Ontario2024#11#12James
Quebec2024#16#4William

James and William in Canada, 2020–2024

James climbed from #10 in 2020 to #8 in 2024 in Canada. William slipped from #3 in 2020 to #5 in 2024 in Canada.

James and William ranked by year in Canada, 2020 to 2024.#1#20#5 William#8 James20202021202220232024

See the full Canada boy names list for 2024 →

James and William in England and Wales, 2020–2025

James slipped from #24 in 2020 to #42 in 2025 in England and Wales. William slipped from #20 in 2020 to #25 in 2025 in England and Wales.

James and William ranked by year in England and Wales, 2020 to 2025.#1#50#25 William#42 James202020212022202320242025

See the full England and Wales boy names list for 2025 →

James and William in the USA, 2020–2024

James climbed from #6 in 2020 to #5 in 2024 in the USA. William slipped from #5 in 2020 to #10 in 2024 in the USA. James passed William in 2021.

James and William ranked by year in USA, 2020 to 2024.#1#10#5 James#10 William20202021202220232024

See the full USA boy names list for 2024 →

Other comparisons

More head-to-heads with James
Adam or JamesArthur or JamesAsher or JamesBenjamin or JamesCharles or JamesDaniel or JamesEdouard or JamesElijah or JamesEmile or JamesEthan or JamesEzra or JamesHenry or JamesHudson or JamesJack or JamesJacob or JamesJames or JulesJames or LaurentJames or LeoJames or LeviJames or LiamJames or LoganJames or LouisJames or LucaJames or LucasJames or MateoJames or MichaelJames or MilesJames or MuhammadJames or NathanJames or NoahJames or OliverJames or OwenJames or RaphaelJames or SamuelJames or SebastianJames or TheoJames or TheodoreJames or ThomasJames or WyattJames or Zorawar
More head-to-heads with William
Adam or WilliamArthur or WilliamAsher or WilliamBenjamin or WilliamCharles or WilliamDaniel or WilliamEdouard or WilliamElijah or WilliamEmile or WilliamEthan or WilliamEzra or WilliamHenry or WilliamHudson or WilliamJack or WilliamJacob or WilliamJules or WilliamLaurent or WilliamLeo or WilliamLevi or WilliamLiam or WilliamLogan or WilliamLouis or WilliamLuca or WilliamLucas or WilliamMateo or WilliamMichael or WilliamMiles or WilliamMuhammad or WilliamNathan or WilliamNoah or WilliamOliver or WilliamOwen or WilliamRaphael or WilliamSamuel or WilliamSebastian or WilliamTheo or WilliamTheodore or WilliamThomas or WilliamWilliam or WyattWilliam or Zorawar

How this comparison is built

Both names are ranked by how many babies were registered with that exact spelling, so every position here counts real births rather than votes or searches. Rank is the only measure every source publishes, so it is what the charts plot; birth counts are not released for every place.

A place appears only in the years it published a complete list, which is why a name can be missing from a year it was almost certainly given to some babies. See every head-to-head on the site, or the ranked lists these names come from.