Wills family name history and map
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Wills in 1911 Ireland
The 1911 Census recorded 331 people named Wills in Ireland; roughly one in every 13,000 people carried the name. The name was split fairly evenly between men and women: 165 men and 165 women. (A small number, 1, had no sex recorded.)
Counties with Wills in Ireland
Dublin had the largest share of Willses, 21.1% (70 people). Next came Antrim (49), Mayo (44), Down (31) and Cork (26).
Wills average age in 1911
The average Wills in 1911 was 27.1 years old, 25.7 for men and 28.4 for women; a touch younger than the national averages of 29.6 for men and 30.5 for women. That low figure reflects just how many children there were in Edwardian Ireland, along with high infant mortality and the limits of public health at the time. For comparison, average life expectancy in Ireland today is around 83.
Wills literacy in 1911
Of the Willses whose literacy was recorded, 79.3% could both read and write, 3.4% could read but not write, and 16.4% could do neither. Women came out slightly ahead, 80.7% reading and writing against 77.9% of men. Bear in mind these figures include young children; the census itself only counted people aged nine and over when calculating illiteracy, on the grounds that it was unfair to label a child illiterate before they'd had a chance to learn.
Wills common first names
The most common male names were John (22), James, Thomas, William and George. For women it was Mary (17), followed by Annie, Jane, Lizzie and Sarah.
Wills occupations in 1911
The most common entry on a Wills's census form was "Scholar"; 24.8% (82) were children at school. Among the rest, the most common occupations were farmer (7.6%), general labourer (4.8%), shopkeeper / shop assistant / dealer (3.6%) and retired / pensioner (3.3%). Grouped by sector, agriculture accounted for 10.9% of all Willses, followed by textiles & clothing, general labourers and retail & commerce.
What religion is Wills?
The largest religious group among Willses was Anglican, at 48.3%. The remainder were mostly Roman Catholic (44.1%), Presbyterian (4.5%), Methodist (1.2%) and Baptist (0.9%).
Visitor Notes
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Added by
Pete F
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Wills statistics (1911)
Number: 331
Rank: 1,788
Average Age: 27
Wills in the USA (2020)
Number: 26,978
Rank: 1,277
Note: If there were less than 100 in the USA census it will show as zero.
Ref: wills
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