William is a

masculine Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors con ...

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...

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 descri ...

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 England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...

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 Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and 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 A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...

include Wull, Willie or Wullie (as in Oor Wullie or the play ''Douglas''). Female forms are Willa, Willemina, Wilma and Wilhelmina.

Etymology

William is related to the German given name ''Wilhelm''. Both ultimately descend from Proto-Germanic ''*Wiljahelmaz'', with a direct cognate also in the Old Norse 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 Alf ...

refers to William the Conqueror as ''Willelm'', a back-formation from the Medieval Latin variant. The form ''William'' is a back-borrowing from Old Norman ''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''. The first well-known bearer of the name was Charlemagne'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) ( French: ), was a dialect of Old Norman French that was used in England and, to a lesser extent, elsewhere in Great Britain and Ireland during the Anglo-Norman period. When ...

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 English cognate was Hrēodbeorht, which by regular sound changes would have developed into something along the lines of "Reedbart"), Richard, Roger (the English cognate was Hroðgar), Henry (all of Germanic origin and may have been transmitted through the Normans' use of Old French). 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 L ...

) *Willem, Wilhelm ( Afrikaans) *

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 Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

) *Williama ( Hawaiian) *Wëllem ( Luxembourgish) *Walaam ( Persian) *Wiliyom, Wiliyem ( Bengali) *Vĩnh Liêm, Vĩnh Lâm ( Vietnamese) *Billem ( Toba Batak) *Cuglierme, Gugliemo (

Neapolitan Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to: Geography and history * Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city * Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and Hig ...

) *Golem, Gulielm, Ylli, Ylmer (

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

) *Gilen, Guilen ( Basque) *Gulielmus, Vilhelmus, Willelmus, Gullelmus, Gullielmus, Villelmus ( Latin) *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) *Guilhèm, Guilhem, Guilherme, Guilhèume, Guilhaume, Glhaume ( Occitan) *Guillem, Guim ( Catalan) *Guillén ( Aragonese) * Guillermo ( Spanish) * Guilherme ( Portuguese) *Guillerme ( Galician) *Gwilym ( Welsh) *Gwilherm (

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...

) *Gugghiermu ( Sicilian) *Gllâome (Modern Norman) *Uilliam ( Irish) * Liam ( Irish) *Illiam ( Manx Gaelic) *

Uilleam Uilleam is a masculine given name in the Scottish Gaelic language. It is the equivalent of the name ''William'' in English. List of people with the given name *Uilleam, Earl of Mar * Uilleam I, Earl of Ross *Uilleam II, Earl of Ross William II ...

( Scottish Gaelic) *وِلْيَم – William ( Arabic) *Уилям – Uiliam ( Bulgarian) *װֶעלװֶעל – /ˈvelvel/ (

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

) *Villem, Villu (

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

) *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 ( 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) *Vilim ( Croatian) *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 ( Old Norse) *Vilko ( Croatian) *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) *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