Wallace

Where Wallace comes from

An Old English byname for a Welshman or Breton, from Anglo-Norman waleis (“foreign”); see wǣlisċ.
— Wiktionary's entry for Wallace
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1879
    Wallace Stevens born
    American poet
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #150 among boys — 91 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1923
    Peak, #69
    2,803 babies named Wallace — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1933
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #120.
  5. 1943
    Wallace Shawn born
    American actor and playwright
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname, of 19th century and later usage.
Namesakes
  • Wallace Stevens · American poet, 1879–1955
  • Wallace Shawn · American actor and playwright, born 1943
  • Wallace Beery · American actor, 1885–1949
  • Wallace Carothers · American organic chemist, 1896–1937
  • Wallace Stegner · American historian, writer, and environmentalist, 1909–1993

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.