William is a masculine given name of

Norman French Norman or Norman French (, french: Normand, Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a Romance language which can be classified as one of the Oïl languages along with French, Picard and Walloon. The name "Norman French" is sometimes used to describe ...

origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to t ...

after the Norman conquest of England in 1066,All Things William
"Meaning & Origin of the Name"
/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." Shortened familiar versions in English include Will, Wills,

Willy Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scree ...

, Willie, Liam, Bill, and

Billy Billy may refer to: * Billy (name), a name (and list of people with the name) Animals * Billy (dog), a dog breed * Billy (pigeon), awarded the Dickin Medal in 1945 * Billy (pygmy hippo), a pet of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge * Billy, a youn ...

. A common Irish form is Liam.

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

diminutives include Wull, Willie or Wullie (as in

Oor Wullie ''Oor Wullie'' ( en, Our Willie) is a Scottish comic strip published in the D.C. Thomson newspaper ''The Sunday Post''. It features a character called Wullie; Wullie is the familiar Scots nickname for boys named William, equivalent to Willie. ...

or the play ''Douglas''). Female forms are

Willa Willa is a feminine given name. Notable people and characters with the name include: * Willa or Guilla of Provence (died before 924), early medieval Frankish queen * Willa of Tuscany (died 970), queen consort of Berengar II of Italy * Willa Brown ...

, Willemina, Wilma and Wilhelmina.

Etymology

William is related to the German given name ''Wilhelm''. Both ultimately descend from

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...

''*Wiljahelmaz'', with a direct cognate also in the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

name ''Vilhjalmr'' and a West Germanic borrowing into Medieval Latin ''Willelmus''. The Proto-Germanic name is a compound of *''wiljô'' "will, wish, desire" and *''helmaz'' "helm, helmet". By regular sound change, Proto-Germanic *''Wiljahelmaz'' should have also descended into English as *''Wilhelm'', but this latter form is unattested in written English of any period; the

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of A ...

refers to

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England The monarchy of the United Kingdom, ...

as ''Willelm'', a back-formation from the Medieval Latin variant. The form ''William'' is a back-borrowing from

Old Norman Old Norman, also called Old Northern French or Old Norman French ( fro, Ancien Normant, nrf, Ancien Normaund), was one of many varieties of the '' langues d'oïl'' native to northern France. It was spoken throughout the region of what is now call ...

''Williame'', a specifically northern Norman reflex of Medieval Latin ''Willelmus'' (compare the Central French cognate ''Guillaume''). The development of the name's northern Norman form can be traced in the different versions of the name appearing in Wace's ''

Roman de Rou ''Roman de Rou'' is a verse chronicle by Wace in Norman covering the history of the Dukes of Normandy from the time of Rollo of Normandy to the battle of Tinchebray in 1106. It is a national epic of Normandy. Following the success of his ...

''. The first well-known bearer of the name was

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Em ...

's cousin William of Gellone (755–812). This William is immortalized in the Chanson de Guillaume, and the esteem in which he was held may account for the name's subsequent popularity among European nobility.

English history

The English "William" is taken from the

Anglo-Norman language Anglo-Norman, also known as Anglo-Norman French ( nrf, Anglo-Normaund) (Standard French, French: ), was a dialect of Old Norman French that was used in Kingdom of England, England and, to a lesser extent, elsewhere in Great Britain and Ireland du ...

and was transmitted to England after the Norman conquest in the 11th century, and soon became the most popular name in England, along with other Norman names such as

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, h ...

(the English cognate was Hrēodbeorht, which by regular sound changes would have developed into something along the lines of "Reedbart"),

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...

Roger Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ...

(the English cognate was Hroðgar), Henry (all of Germanic origin and may have been transmitted through the Normans' use of

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligi ...

). The name Wilkin/Wilkins is also of medieval origin, taken from the shortened version of William (Will) with the suffix "kin" added.

Variants

*Wilem, Awilemam ( Koromfe) *Weelum (

Scots Scots usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: * Scots language, a language of the West Germanic language family native to Scotland * Scots people, a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland * Scoti, a Latin na ...

) *Willum (

) *Viliamu ( Samoan) *Viliami ( Tongan) *Whiriyamu ( Karanga) *Whiliyamu ( Ndebele) *Wilhelm ( German, Polish,

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

) *Willem, Wilhelmus, Wim ( Dutch, Frisian,

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle ...

) *Willem, Wilhelm (

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans g ...

) *

Wiremu Wiremu is a masculine given name, the Māori form of William. Notable people with the name include: People with given name Wiremu * Aaron Wiremu Cruden (born 1989), New Zealand rugby union player * Wiremu Doherty, New Zealand Māori educationalis ...

( Maori) *Willelm ( Old English) *Williama ( Hawaiian) *Wëllem (

Luxembourgish Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; Luxembourgish: ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide. As a standard form of t ...

) *Walaam ( Persian) *Wiliyom, Wiliyem ( Bengali) *Vĩnh Liêm, Vĩnh Lâm ( Vietnamese) *Billem ( Toba Batak) *Cuglierme, Gugliemo ( Neapolitan) *Golem, Gulielm, Ylli, Ylmer ( Albanian) *Gilen, Guilen ( Basque) *Gulielmus, Vilhelmus, Willelmus, Gullelmus, Gullielmus, Villelmus (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

) *Guglielmo ( Italian) *Guillaume (

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

) *Guildhelm (

Old Dutch In linguistics, Old Dutch (Dutch: Oudnederlands) or Old Low Franconian (Dutch: Oudnederfrankisch) is the set of Franconian dialects (i.e. dialects that evolved from Frankish) spoken in the Low Countries during the Early Middle Ages, from aro ...

) *Guilhèm, Guilhem, Guilherme, Guilhèume, Guilhaume, Glhaume ( Occitan) *Guillem, Guim (

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid ...

) *Guillén ( Aragonese) *

Guillermo Guillermo () is the Spanish form of the male given name William. The name is also commonly shortened to 'Guille' or, in Latin America, to nickname 'Memo'. People * Guillermo Amor (born 1967), Spanish football manager and former player * Guillermo ...

( Spanish) *

Guilherme Guilherme is a Portuguese given name, equivalent to William in English. The feminine form of this name is Guilhermina. Diminutive forms include Guilhermino. Vilma (Portuguese form of Wilma) is another female variant of the name. Brazilian foo ...

( Portuguese) *Guillerme ( Galician) *Gwilym (

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

) *Gwilherm ( Breton) *Gugghiermu ( Sicilian) *Gllâome (Modern Norman) *Uilliam ( Irish) * Liam ( Irish) *Illiam (

Manx Gaelic Manx ( or , pronounced or ), also known as Manx Gaelic, is a Gaelic language of the insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family. Manx is the historical language of the Manx peopl ...

) * Uilleam (

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well a ...

) *وِلْيَم – William (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

) *Уилям – Uiliam ( Bulgarian) *װֶעלװֶעל – /ˈvelvel/ ( Yiddish) *Villem, Villu ( Estonian) *Уильям – Uilyam ( Russian) *Вільгельм, Вільям – Vil'hel'm, Vil'yam ( Ukrainian) *Уільям, Вільям – Uiĺjam, Viĺjam (

Belarusian Belarusian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Belarus * Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent * A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus * Belarusian language * Belarusian culture * Belarusian cuisine * Byelor ...

) *

Vilhelm Vilhelm is a masculine given name, the Scandinavian form of William and Wilhelm. Notable people with the name include: * Vilhelm Ahlmann (1852-1928), Danish-Swedish architect * Vilhelm Andersen (1864–1953), Danish author, literary historian and ...

( Danish, Norwegian, Romanian,

) *Vilhelmo (

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...

) * Vilhelms ( Latvian) *Viliam ( Slovak) *Viljem ( Slovene) *ויליאם – /ˈviljam/ (older pronunciation), /ˈwiljam/ (contemporary) (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

) *Vilim (

Croatian Croatian may refer to: * Croatia *Croatian language *Croatian people *Croatians (demonym) See also * * * Croatan (disambiguation) * Croatia (disambiguation) * Croatoan (disambiguation) * Hrvatski (disambiguation) * Hrvatsko (disambiguation) * S ...

) *Вилим (

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also

* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

) *Vilém ( Czech) *Vilmos ( Hungarian) *Viljams, Vilhelms, Vilis ( Latvian) *Vilius, Viliumas, Vilhelmas (

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

) *Viljami, Ville, Vilho, Viljo ( Finnish) *Vilhjálmur ( Icelandic) *Vilhjálmur, Viljormur ( Faroese) *Vilhjalmr (

) *Vilko (

) *Vilyam, Vilyım (

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

) *Vėljams ( Samogitian) *Γουλιέλμος (Gouliélmos) (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

) *ܘܠܝܡ (Wil-yam) ( Assyrian) *Գուլիելմոս (Goulielmós) ( Armenian)

People named William

References

{{Authority control English-language masculine given names English masculine given names Masculine given names