"folding pocketbook for paper money," 1879, from bill (n.1) + fold, here perhaps short for folder.
Entries linking to billfold
bill n.1
[written statement] late 14c., "formal document; formal plea or charge (in a court of law); personal letter," from Anglo-French bille, Anglo-Latin billa "a writing, a list, a seal," from Medieval Latin bulla "decree, seal, sealed document," in classical Latin "bubble, boss, stud, amulet for the neck" (hence "seal"); see bull (n.2).
The sense of "written statement detailing articles sold or services rendered by one person to another" is from c. 1400; that of "order addressed to one person to pay another" is from 1570s. The meaning "paper intended to give public notice of something, exhibited in a public place" is from late 15c. The sense of "paper money, bank-note" is from 1660s. The meaning "draft of a proposed statute presented to a legislature" is from 1510s.
folder n.
1550s, "one who folds;" 1903, "folding cover for loose papers" (earlier as "a fold-up document," often a railway timetable or map); agent noun from fold (v.).