Meanings
proper noun
- A female given name from the Germanic languages.
Even though Miss Cather's father clearly wrote that Willa was named after our "little sister", Miss Lewis' text reads: "They named Willa after ... William Lee Boak, who was killed in the Civil War".
1974, Bernice Slote, Virginia Faulkner, The Art of Willa Cather, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, →ISBN, page 198
Origin
Derived from Wilhelmina and recoined in the 19th century in America based on the male given names Will and William.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
Willa. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Willa
MLA
“Willa.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Willa. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Willa,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Willa.
Source: Willa on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.