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 ...
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 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
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Plac ...
, 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
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
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".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
Wace ( 1110 – after 1174), sometimes referred to as Robert Wace, was a Medieval Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy (he tells us in the ''Roman de Rou'' that he was taken as a child to Caen), ending his care ...
'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 ''Roma ...
''.
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 wikt:Hreodbeorht#Old English, Hrēodbeorht, which by regular sound changes would have developed into something along the lines of "Reedbart"), Richard, Roger (the English cognate was Hroðgar), Henry (surname), Henry (all of Germanic origin and may have been transmitted through the Normans' use of Old French).
The name Wilkins (disambiguation), Wilkin/Wilkins is also of medieval origin, taken from the shortened version of William (Will) with the suffix "kin" added.
Variants
*Wilem, Awilemam (Koromfe language, Koromfe)
*Weelum (Scots language, Scots)
*Willum (Scots language, Scots)
*Viliamu (Samoan language, Samoan)
*Viliami (Tongan language, Tongan)
*Whiriyamu (Ikalanga language, Karanga)
*Whiliyamu (Northern Ndebele language, Ndebele)
*Wilhelm (German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
, Polish language, Polish, Swedish language, Swedish)
*Willem, Wilhelmus, Wim (Dutch language, Dutch, Frisian languages, Frisian, Low German)
*Willem, Wilhelm (Afrikaans)
*Wiremu (Māori language, Maori)
*Willelm (Old English)
*Williama (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian)
*Wëllem (Luxembourgish)
*Walaam (Persian language, Persian)
*Wiliyom, Wiliyem (Bengali language, Bengali)
*Vĩnh Liêm, Vĩnh Lâm (Vietnamese language, Vietnamese)
*Billem (Toba Batak language, Toba Batak)
*Cuglierme, Gugliemo (Neapolitan language, Neapolitan)
*Golem, Gulielm, Ylli, Ylmer (Albanian language, Albanian)
*Gilen, Guilen (Basque language, Basque)
*Gulielmus, Vilhelmus, Willelmus, Gullelmus, Gullielmus, Villelmus (Latin)
*Guglielmo (Italian language, Italian)
*Guillaume (French language, French)
*Guildhelm (Old Dutch)
*Guilhèm, Guilhem, Guilherme, Guilhèume, Guilhaume, Glhaume (Occitan language, Occitan)
*Guillem, Guim (Catalan language, Catalan)
*Guillén (Aragonese language, Aragonese)
*Guillermo (Spanish language, Spanish)
*Guilherme (Portuguese language, Portuguese)
*Guillerme (Galician language, Galician)
*Gwilym (Welsh language, Welsh)
*Gwilherm (Breton language, Breton)
*Gugghiermu (Sicilian language, Sicilian)
*Gllâome (Modern Norman language, Norman)
*Uilliam (Irish language, Irish)
* Liam (Irish language, Irish)
*Illiam (Manx language, Manx Gaelic)
*Uilleam (Scottish Gaelic)
*وِلْيَم – William (Arabic)
*Уилям – Uiliam (Bulgarian language, Bulgarian)
*װֶעלװֶעל – /ˈvelvel/ (Yiddish)
*Villem, Villu (Estonian language, Estonian)
*Уильям – Uilyam (Russian language, Russian)
*Вільгельм, Вільям – Vil'hel'm, Vil'yam (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian)
*Уільям, Вільям – Uiĺjam, Viĺjam (Belarusian language, Belarusian)
*Vilhelm (Danish language, Danish, Norwegian language, Norwegian, Romanian language, Romanian, Swedish language, Swedish)
*Vilhelmo (Esperanto)
*Vilhelms (Latvian language, Latvian)
*Viliam (Slovak language, Slovak)
*Viljem (Slovene language, Slovene)
*ויליאם – /ˈviljam/ (older pronunciation), /ˈwiljam/ (contemporary) (Hebrew)
*Vilim (Croatian language, Croatian)
*Вилим (Serbian language, Serbian)
*Vilém (Czech language, Czech)
*Vilmos (Hungarian language, Hungarian)
*Viljams, Vilhelms, Vilis (Latvian language, Latvian)
*Vilius, Viliumas, Vilhelmas (Lithuanian language, Lithuanian)
*Viljami, Ville, Vilho, Viljo (Finnish language, Finnish)
*Vilhjálmur (Icelandic language, Icelandic)
*Vilhjálmur, Viljormur (Faroese language, Faroese)
*Vilhjalmr ( Old Norse)
*Vilko (Croatian language, Croatian)
*Vilyam, Vilyım (Turkish language, Turkish)
*Vėljams (Samogitian dialect, Samogitian)
*Γουλιέλμος (Gouliélmos) (Greek language, Greek)
*ܘܠܝܡ (Wil-yam) (Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Assyrian)
*Գուլիելմոս (Goulielmós) (Armenian language, Armenian)
People named William
See also
*
*Williams (surname)
*Bill (disambiguation)
*Billy (disambiguation)
*King William (disambiguation)
*Prince William (disambiguation)
*Saint William (disambiguation)
*Wilhelm (disambiguation)
References
{{Authority control
English-language masculine given names
English masculine given names
Masculine given names
