Holiday Calendar

National Liam Day

Next celebratedSunday, August 8, 2027

Sweden counts 19,995 Liams and its almanac gives them no name day at all. August 8 is the American answer to that, a date for the Irish short form of William.

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Last updated September 6, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar TeamHave an update or spot an error?
YEARLY DATEAugust 8
OBSERVED INInternationally
CATEGORYNames
ORIGIN

Community Origin

FOUNDING ENTITY
Not documented
FIRST OBSERVED
Not documented
HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

A WalesOnline post from 2024 is the earliest verified marking.

The earliest independently verified marking of National Liam Day is a WalesOnline post from August 2024. No founder, establishing act or first observance has been documented, and no source explains the choice of 8 August.

+ Know the story? Submit a founder Help us complete this holiday
INTRO

First in America, 68th in England and Wales

National Liam Day belongs to a name pulling in two directions at once. In the United States, Liam has never been more popular. In England and Wales, it has never returned to its old heights.

Liam has been the most-given boys' name in America for nine years running. Turn the clock back to 1996 and the two countries swap places. It ranked 184th in the United States that year and tenth in England and Wales.

The day itself has no such paper trail. National statistics agencies track the name year by year. The holiday that honours it turned up unannounced.

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ORIGINS

Liam Day history

INTRODUCTION

The name came into Ireland with an invasion. Patrick Woulfe's 1923 dictionary of Irish names records Uilliam as the Irish form of the Norman Willaume, and calls it the most common name among the early Anglo-Norman settlers in Ireland. Its popularity, he wrote, was owed to William the Conqueror.

The older Germanic root behind it is Willehelm. Liam is the Irish short form of the same name. A day for Liams is, at one remove, a day for Williams.

CHAPTER 01

A William filed under Liam

William Joseph Mellows was born in May 1892 at Hartshead military barracks in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire. He grew up to be an Irish revolutionary and socialist.

The Royal Irish Academy's Dictionary of Irish Biography files him under his birth name with the Irish form in quotation marks, and calls him Liam throughout. He was executed by firing squad in December 1922. The record does not say when or why he took the Irish form, only that history kept it.

CHAPTER 02

America takes its time

Liam first entered the American top thousand in 1967. It came in at rank 939. It fell out again, returned in 1974, and then climbed without ever really stopping.

It reached the top five in 2013. Four years later it was first, and it has not been displaced since.

CHAPTER 03

The day arrives last

The holiday is the one part of this story with no record behind it. No founder, no first observance, and no stated reason for the date have been documented anywhere.

What exists is the marking itself. WalesOnline told its readers it was National Liam Day in August 2024, and said so again a year later.

TIMELINE

Timeline

A William who became Liam

William Joseph Mellows was born in Lancashire and is known to history by the Irish form of his name.

Woulfe records the Irish form

Patrick Woulfe's dictionary of Irish names traces Uilliam to the Norman Willaume and the Germanic Willehelm.

First entry in the US top thousand

Liam appeared in the American top thousand boys' names for the first time, at rank 939.

Tenth in England and Wales

Liam ranked tenth among boys registered in England and Wales, with 5,802 births that year.

Liam tops the American list

Liam became the most-given boys' name in the United States, a position it has held every year since.

A newsroom marks the day

WalesOnline told readers on August 8 that it was National Liam Day, the earliest independently verified marking located.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why We Love National Liam Day

RECORD

A name day you can check against a federal record.

Social Security builds its list from the card applications filed when a child is born, which is why a name day can be checked against a record instead of asserted. Its database reaches back to 1880.

LANGUAGE

One spelling, seven languages

Reference works list Liam in current use in Irish, English, French, Dutch, German, Swedish and Norwegian. The same four letters travel across all of them without adapting to local spelling.

BY THE NUMBERS

National Liam Day by the Numbers

20,818
US boys named Liam, 2025
1.134%
Share of all US male births, 2025
763
Liams born in England and Wales, 2025
9th
William's US rank, 2025
25th
William's rank in England and Wales, 2025

GOOD TO KNOW

National Liam Day Around the World

Ireland

the most chosen boys' name where both parents came from the EU14 outside Ireland, and the top pick in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and Kildare

Sweden

19,995 people carry the name and it placed third among newborn boys, yet it has no name day in the almanac most Swedish calendars use

United States

Social Security records 2025 as the year the name was most popular, so the run is still at its peak

MYTH VS FACT

Common Misconceptions

The myth

Liam has been America's top boys' name for seven years.

The truth

Social Security's headline counts the seventh straight year that Olivia and Liam held both top spots together, a joint run that began in 2019. Liam's own run started in 2017 and reached nine years in 2025.

The myth

The name means strong-willed warrior.

The truth

Woulfe's dictionary glosses the Germanic root Willehelm as will-protection. No warrior element appears in the entry.

The myth

A name this Irish must top the charts in Ireland.

The truth

The Central Statistics Office ranked Liam seventh among Irish boys' names in 2025. The top spot went to Rian, the first time it had held it since 1964.

GET INVOLVED

How to Celebrate National Liam Day

EDITOR'S PICK

Look up a rank in the Social Security database

The agency's name tool returns a year by year ranking for any name in its top thousand. Run a Liam you know through it and find where the name sat the year they were born.

READ

Read the 1923 entry behind the name

Patrick Woulfe's dictionary of Irish names is short, blunt and free to read. His entry for Uilliam settles the Norman question in three lines.

ADD

Add the Swedish name day to your calendar

Sweden's name committee placed Liam beside Vilhelm and William on April 6. If August 8 slips past you, that hands the Liam in your life a second date to claim.

ASK

Ask an older Liam how rare it used to be

The name reached America late and climbed slowly for decades before it took the top spot. Ask someone who carried it back then how often they met another one.

TOAST

Toast the Liams in your life

A name day exists for the people carrying the name, so make one of them the guest of honour. Cook what they like and let them field the William jokes.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know National Liam Day?

1 / 8

How many years in a row had Liam been America's most-given boys' name through 2025?

Answer

No. It is an unofficial observance with no legal standing found, so it is a normal working day.

COLOPHON

Sources

How we know what’s on this page. References, not endorsements.

13sources
10primary records
13independently dated
Primary records
U.S. Social Security Administration2026
Top 5 Names in Each of the Last 100 Years
The top five boys' and girls' names for every US birth year since 1926.
View source
U.S. Social Security Administration2026
Popularity of a Name
Year by year US ranking for any given name, with birth counts and shares.
View source
U.S. Social Security Administration2026-05
Olivia and Liam Top America's Most Popular Baby Names for the Seventh Straight Year
The agency's announcement of the 2025 rankings, with the full top ten.
View source
Office for National Statistics2026-07
Baby names in England and Wales from 1996
Rank and count for every boys' name registered in England and Wales since 1996.
View source
Central Statistics Office2026-02
Irish Babies' Names 2025
Ireland's 2025 baby name rankings, including breakdowns by county and parents' nationality.
View source
Institutet for sprak och folkminnen2025-01
Nya namn i almanackan
Sweden's name committee announces the names entering its calendar and extended list.
View source
Library Ireland1923
Uilliam, in Patrick Woulfe's Irish Names and Surnames
The 1923 entry tracing Uilliam to the Norman Willaume and the Germanic Willehelm.
View source
WalesOnline2025-08
August 8 is National Liam Day
A regional newsroom naming the date outright on the day itself.
View source
WalesOnline2024-08
Today is National Liam Day
The earliest independently verified marking of the day located.
View source
Daily Record2025-06
Today is National Liam Day
The same named day marked in June rather than August.
View source
Additional coverage
Dictionary of Irish Biography2024-01
Mellows, William Joseph ('Liam')
The Royal Irish Academy's life of the revolutionary born William Joseph Mellows.
View source
SVT Nyheter2026-01
Darfor har Liam inte en namnsdag
Why one of Sweden's most common names still has no day in the almanac.
View source
Behind the Name2026-05
Liam
Reference entry on the name as the Irish short form of William.
View source
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