Liam is a short form of the
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
name
Uilliam or the old Germanic name
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
.
Etymology
The original name was a merging of two
Old German
Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050.
There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...
elements: ''willa'' ("will" or "resolution"); and ''helma'' ("helmet"). The juxtaposition of these elements effectively means "helmet of will" or "guardian".
When the
Frankish Empire
Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks du ...
was divided, the name developed differently in each region. In Northern
Francia
Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks dur ...
, Willahelm developed first into "Willelm" and then into "Willaume" in
Norman and
Picard, and "Guillaume" in
Ile-de-France French. The Norman form was further developed by the English into the familiar modern form "
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
".
Origin
Although the names Willahelm and Guillaume were well known in England before 1066, through Saxon dealings with Guillaume, Duc de Normandie, it was viewed as a "foreign" name. The
Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...
had a dramatic effect on English names. Many if not most
Saxon names, such as
Ethelred, died out under the massive influx of French ones. Since the
Royal Court
A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word "court" may also be appl ...
now rang with names such as Alain, Guy, Reginald and William, they were quickly adopted by the English, the Welsh, and eventually the Irish.
Within a generation, the "new" names had become so completely assimilated that they were regarded as homegrown, and variant forms evolved and thrived alongside one another. In Wales, both William and Gwilym became popular, as did the short forms Wil and Gwil, and almost every village had its own Gwilym Williams (the final "s" represented "son of" or "descendant of"). The Norman conquest of Ireland followed a similar pattern to that of England a century earlier. Within a generation, the Irish Uilliam was found alongside William, and the short form of both was Liam.
Until the end of the 18th century, Liam was virtually unknown outside Ireland. In the mid-1850s, over a million and a half people left Ireland to escape the catastrophic
great famine and, from then on, Irish names were heard everywhere. Liam as an independent name in England and Wales dates from 1932, but it was mainly confined to the families of Irish descent. By 1955, it was recorded for two boys in every 10,000, a figure it maintained until 1975, when it rose to four per 10,000.
Late 20th and early 21st centuries
By 1980, it was clear that Liam was becoming a vogue name in the general population in the United Kingdom and that year it was recorded for 12 boys per 10,000. It continued to gain ground. In 1985, it stood at 20 per 10,000, and by 1990, it was recorded for 100 boys in every 10,000. In 1996, Liam peaked in popularity as the 10th most popular baby name for boys in England and Wales, according to the UK
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible for th ...
.
Liam continued to remain in the top 33 most popular boys names in the UK throughout the first decade of the 21st century but started to steadily decline in 2009.
Meanwhile, according to the
Social Security Administration
The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government that administers Social Security (United ...
, Liam had been steadily gaining in popularity in the United States and entered the top 50 names for the first time in 2009 at number 49. As Liam gained popularity in the US, climbing to number two by 2013, popularity in the UK plummeted, and it ranked 67th that same year.
In Canada, Liam has been the most popular boys name since 2013.
People
*
Liam Abernethy
William J. Abernethy (1929 – 21 October 1980) was an Irish hurler who played as a right corner-forward for the Cork senior team.
Abernethy made his first appearance for the team during the 1951-52 National Hurling League and was a sometimes ...
, Irish hurler
*
Liam Aiken
Liam Pádraic Aiken (born January 7, 1990) is an American actor. He has starred in films such as '' Stepmom'' (1998), ''Road to Perdition'' (2002), and ''Good Boy!'' (2003), and played Klaus Baudelaire in ''Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortuna ...
(born 1990), American actor
*
Liam Anthony
Liam Anthony (born 9 September 1987) is an Australian rules footballer who played for the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Originally from Geraldton, Western Australia, he was recruited from the East Frema ...
, Australian rules footballer for North Melbourne
*
Liam Aylward
Liam Aylward (born 27 September 1952) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as a Minister of State from 1988 to 1989, from 1992 to 1994 and from 2004 to 2004. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East con ...
, Irish politician
*
Liam Brady
William Brady (born 13 February 1956) is an Irish former footballer. He found success both in England with Arsenal, where he won an FA Cup in 1979, and in Italy with Juventus, winning two Serie A titles. Brady was capped 72 times for the Irelan ...
, footballer
*
Liam Byrne
Liam Dominic Byrne (born 2 October 1970) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Hodge Hill since 2004. A member of the Labour Party, he served in Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Cabinet from 2008 to 20 ...
, British Labour Party politician
*
Liam Callanan
Liam Callanan is an American author and professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. His novels include ''The Cloud Atlas'' (2004) and ''All Saints'' (2007).
Background
Callanan earned his Bachelor of Arts at Yale and hi ...
, American author
*
Liam Clancy
Liam Clancy ( ga, Liam Mac Fhlannchadha; 2 September 1935 – 4 December 2009) was an Irish folk singer from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. He was the youngest member of the influential folk group the Clancy Brothers, regarded as Ireland's ...
, Irish folk singer
*
Liam "Rory" Clewlow
Enter Shikari (stylised as enter: shikari and occasionally as ΣΠΤΣ℞ SΗΦΚ∆℞Φ) are a British rock band formed in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England in 1999 by bassist Chris Batten, lead vocalist and keyboardist Rou Reynolds, and drum ...
, lead guitar, backing vocals for Enter Shikari
*
Liam Cunningham (actor)
Liam Cunningham (born 2 June 1961) is an Irish actor. He is known for playing Davos Seaworth in the HBO epic-fantasy series ''Game of Thrones''.
Cunningham has been nominated for the London Film Critics' Circle Award, the British Independent ...
, Irish actor
*
Liam Cunningham (politician)
Liam Cunningham (25 January 1915 – 29 February 1976) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He was born in County Donegal in 1915. A qualified national school teacher, Cunningham was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dà ...
, Irish politician
*
Liam Darville
Liam Thomas Darville (born 26 October 1990) is an English semi-professional footballer who plays as a defender for Richmond Town. He has previously played for Leeds United, Rotherham United, Tranmere Rovers, York City and Harrogate Town. He rep ...
, English footballer
*
Liam Davison, Australian author
*
Liam Eichenberg
Liam Eichenberg (born January 19, 1998) is an American football offensive tackle for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Notre Dame and was drafted by the Dolphins in the second round of the 20 ...
(born 1998), American football player
*
Liam Fahy
Liam Fahy (born 26 October 1984) is a shoe designer from Zimbabwe.
Biography
Liam Fahy was born in Harare, Zimbabwe. Fahy studied Footwear Design at De Montfort University and was awarded several design awards including Drapers (magazine), Drapers ...
, Zimbabwean shoe designer
*
Liam Finn
Liam Mullane Finn (born 24 September 1983) is a New Zealand singer and musician. Born in Melbourne, Australia, he moved to New Zealand as a child. He is the son of musicians Sharon and Neil Finn.
In 2020, he joined his father's band, Crowded ...
, New Zealand musician and songwriter
*
Liam Foran
Liam Foran (born 25 April 1988) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who has played for the Cessnock Goannas in the Newcastle Rugby League Competition in Newcastle, Australia, as a or .
Background
Liam Foran was born ...
, New Zealand rugby league player
*
Liam Fox
Liam Fox (born 22 September 1961) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Trade from 2016 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Defence from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Conservative Party, Fox has served as th ...
, British politician
*
Liam Fulton
Liam Mark Fulton (born 8 August 1984), also known by the nickname of "Bozo", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played for the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League (NRL) compe ...
, Australian rugby league player
*
Liam Gallagher
William John Paul Gallagher (born 21 September 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He achieved fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis from 1991 to 2009, and later fronted the rock band Beady Eye from 2009 to 2014, before starti ...
, lead singer of the English rock bands Oasis and Beady Eye
*
Liam Garrigan
Liam Thomas Garrigan (born 17 October 1981) is an English actor. As a youth, he attended classes at Kingston upon Hull's Northern Stage Company and was a student at Wyke College, Kingston upon Hull. His first television role was as Nic Yorke in ...
, English actor
*
Liam Gill, Australian rugby union player
*
Liam Heath
Liam Heath (born 17 August 1984) is a British sprint canoeist. He is the most successful British canoeist at the Olympics with a total of four medals; he won a gold medal in the individual 200m kayak sprint event at the 2016 Summer Olympics ...
, British sprint kayaker
*
Liam Hemsworth
Liam Hemsworth (born 13 January 1990) is an Australian actor. He played the roles of Josh Taylor in the soap opera ''Neighbours'' and Marcus in the children's television series ''The Elephant Princess''. In American films, Hemsworth starred as W ...
, Australian actor
*
Liam Hendriks
Liam Johnson Hendriks (born 10 February 1989), nicknamed "Slydah", is an Australian professional baseball pitcher for the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals, Toront ...
(born 1989), Australian baseball player
*
Liam Highfield
Liam Highfield (born 1 December 1990) is an English professional snooker player. He turned professional in 2010 after finishing second in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. He plays left-handed.
Career Amateur years
In the 2007/2008 season, Highfie ...
, English professional snooker player
*
Liam Howlett
Liam Paul Paris Howlett (born 21 August 1971) is an English record producer, musician, songwriter, co-founder and leader of the British electronic band The Prodigy, and an occasional DJ.
Early years
Howlett was born in Braintree, Essex, Engla ...
, DJ and member of The Prodigy
*
Liam Irwin
Liam Irwin is a former Gaelic football player with Laois in Ireland.
Nicknamed "George", he played at midfield and in 1986 was part of the Laois team that won the county's second National Football League title.
Liam also picked up an All-Star ...
, Gaelic football player
*
Liam James
Liam James (born August 7, 1996) is a Canadian actor, known for his role as Noah Curtis in the 2009 film ''2012 (film), 2012'', List of Psych characters#Young Shawn, young Shawn Spencer on the USA Network television series ''Psych'', and the lead ...
, Canadian child actor
*
Liam Kelly (disambiguation)
*
Liam Lawrence
Liam Lawrence (born 14 December 1981) is a former professional footballer who played as a winger or central midfielder.
Lawrence started his career at his local club Mansfield Town, after impressing at the Field Mill he signed for Sunderland ...
, footballer
*
Liam Lynch (musician)
William Patrick Niederst (born September 5, 1970), better known as Liam Lynch, is an American filmmaker, singer, musician, songwriter, and puppeteer.
While studying at LIPA in Liverpool, Lynch co-created, co-wrote, directed, scored, and produ ...
, American singer and dancer
*
Liam McCullough
Liam McCullough (born June 5, 1997) is an American football long snapper for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ohio State and was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Las Vegas Raiders ...
(born 1997), American football player
*
Liam McIntyre
Liam James McIntyre (born 8 February 1982) is an Australian actor, best known for playing the lead role on the Starz television series '' Spartacus: Vengeance'' and '' War of the Damned'' and as Mark Mardon / Weather Wizard on ''The Flash''. He ...
, Australian actor
*
Liam McKenna
Six were an Irish pop group who formed on the Irish version of the television programme ''Popstars'' in 2002. The programme aired on RTÉ One on Sunday nights in the autumn and winter of 2001–02. The band were signed to Simon Cowell under BM ...
, Irish television presenter
*
Liam Miller
Liam William Peter Miller (13 February 1981 – 9 February 2018) was an Irish professional footballer. Miller began his career with Celtic and was later loaned to Aarhus in 2001. He returned to Celtic Park and broke into the first-team squa ...
, footballer
*
Liam Neeson
William John Neeson (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Tony Awards. In 2020, he was placed 7th on ''The I ...
(born 1952), Irish actor
*
Liam O'Brien
Liam Christopher O'Brien (born May 28, 1976) is an American voice actor, writer, and director. He is a regular cast member of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' actual play series ''Critical Role,'' playing Vax'ildan ("Vax"), Caleb Widogast, and Orym. ...
, American voice actor
*
Liam O'Flaherty
Liam O'Flaherty ( ; 28 August 1896 – 7 September 1984) was an Irish novelist and short-story writer, and one of the foremost socialist writers in the first part of the 20th century, writing about the common people's experience and from their ...
, Irish writer
*
Liam O'Neill
Liam O'Neill is a Gaelic games administrator, who served as the 37th president of the Gaelic Athletic Association. He is from County Laois.
Biography
A former chairman of the Leinster Council, O'Neill initially sought the GAA presidency at the ...
, Gaelic Athletic Association administrator
*
Liam Payne
Liam James Payne (born 29 August 1993) is an English singer. He rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction. Payne made his debut as a singer in 2008 when he auditioned for the British television series ''The X Factor''. After being ...
(born 1993), English singer and member of the British-Irish boy band One Direction
*
Liam Plunkett
Liam Edward Plunkett (born 6 April 1985) is an English cricketer who bowls right-arm fast. He was an England international until 2019, and was part of the squad that won the 2019 Cricket World Cup. He most recently played domestic cricket for S ...
, English cricketer
*
Liam Ridgewell
Liam Matthew Ridgewell (born 21 July 1984) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a defender. He was primarily a centre back but could also play at left back. He is currently a coach for the Portland Timbers.
Ridgewell, wh ...
, footballer
*
Liam Stapleton
Liam Stapleton is an Australian radio presenter and comedian.
He co-hosts ''Ben, Liam & Belle'' on Nova 100 with Ben Harvey and Belle Jackson.
Early life
Stapleton grew up in the suburbs of Adelaide.
Career
Stapleton began his radio caree ...
, Australian radio presenter
*
Liam Waite
Liam Waite (born Liam Owen East; March 20, 1971) is an American actor. He is the stepson of Ralph Waite. He is known for portraying a Mars Police Force Officer in John Carpenter's ‘’Ghost of Mars’’ & portraying a father figure in televis ...
, American actor
*
Liam Walsh (hurler)
Liam Walsh (born 25 June 1963) is former Republic of Ireland, Irish sportsperson. He played hurling with his local club Glenmore GAA, Glenmore and with the Kilkenny GAA, Kilkenny senior inter-county team in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1992, he won ...
(born 1963), Irish hurler
*
Liam Walsh (boxer)
Liam Walsh (born 18 May 1986) is a British professional boxer. He challenged once for the IBF super-featherweight title in 2017. He held the Commonwealth super-featherweight title from 2010 to 2017, and the British super-featherweight title fr ...
(born 1986), English boxer
*
Liam Watson (disambiguation)
*
Liam Watts
Liam Watts (born 8 July 1990) is an English professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Castleford Tigers (List of Castleford Tigers players, Heritage â„– 877) in the Super League. He is an England Knights international.
He ha ...
, drummer for the band the Enemy
*
Liam Watts
Liam Watts (born 8 July 1990) is an English professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Castleford Tigers (List of Castleford Tigers players, Heritage â„– 877) in the Super League. He is an England Knights international.
He ha ...
, English rugby player in position of prop for Hull Kingston Rovers
*
Liam Weldon
Liam Weldon (15 October 1933 - 28 November 1995) was a singer and songwriter in the Irish folk tradition.
Life
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Liam, like many people in inner city Dublin at that time, was moved out of the developing city to Ballyfermot ...
, Irish folk singer
*
Liam Williams (rugby player)
Liam Brian Williams (born 9 April 1991) is a Welsh professional rugby union player who primarily plays fullback for Cardiff in the United Rugby Championship. He has also represented Wales at international level, having made his test debut agai ...
, Welsh rugby player
*
Liam Wilson
Liam Wilson (born December 22, 1979) is an American musician. He has been the bass player for The Dillinger Escape Plan since 2000 and is a former bass player of Starkweather. Currently, he is a part of Azusa, a project formed with members of Ex ...
, bass player for the Dillinger Escape Plan
*
Liam Wright, Papua New Guinean basketball player
References
{{given name
Masculine given names
English masculine given names
Irish masculine given names