Etymology
William is related to the given name ''Wilhelm'' (cf. Proto-Germanic ᚹᛁᛚᛃᚨᚺᛖᛚᛗᚨᛉ, ''*Wiljahelmaz'' > German ''Wilhelm (name), Wilhelm'' and Old Norse ᚢᛁᛚᛋᛅᚼᛅᛚᛘᛅᛋ, ''Vilhjálmr''). By regular sound changes, the native, inherited English form of the name should be ''*Wilhelm'' as well (although the name is not actually attested in the history of English, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle refers to William the Conqueror as ''Willelm''). That is a compound (linguistics), compound of two distinct elements: ''wil'' = "will or desire"; ''helm''; Old English ''helm'' "helmet, protection"; English ''helm'' "knight's large helmet". The form ''William'' is identified as typical of the Norman language, Old Norman form ''Williame, Willame'', because first, the English language should have retained ''(h)elm'' (see common words ''helm, helmet'', in French '':fr:Heaume, heaume''), second, ''-iaume'' [iaʷm] (typical of Popular French, see Guillaume (given name), Guillaume) turned to ''-iame'' [iam] (typical of some Norman and Picard dialects) > English ''-iam''. Historically, there was first a triphthongation of ''-elm'' (early Gallo-Romance form WILLELMU) into [iaʷ] + [m] in Old Norman-French, quite similar in Old Central French [eaʷ] + [m]. Then, the triphthong ''-iau'' was submitted to a monophthongation localized on the second part of the triphthong áu > āò > ā. For instance, this development can be followed in the different versions of the name in the Wace's ''Roman de Rou''. or in the Cauchois dialect, Cauchois variant forms of common words such as ''osias'' (plural of ''osè'' "bird", older ''oisel'') / Regular Norman ''oisiaus'' "birds" (French sing. ''oiseau'', pl. ''oiseaux''). The spelling and phonetics ''Wi-'' [wi] is a characteristic trait of the Northern French dialects, but the pronunciation changed in Norman from [wi] to [vi] in the 12th century (cf. the Norman surnames ''Villon (surname), Villon'' and ''Villamaux'' "little William"), unlike the Central French and Southern Norman that turned the Germanic ''Wi-'' into ''Gui-'' [gwi] > [gi]. The Modern French spelling is . The first well-known carrier of the name was Charlemagne's cousin William of Gellone, a.k.a. Guilhem, William of Orange, Guillaume Fierabrace, or William Short-Nose (755–812). This William is immortalized in the Chanson de Guillaume and his esteem may account for the name's subsequent popularity among European nobility.English history
The English "William" is taken from the Anglo-Norman language 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 language, German, Polish language, Polish, Swedish language, Swedish) *Willem, Wilhelmus (Dutch language, Dutch, Frisian languages, Frisian, Low German) *Willem, Wilhelm (Afrikaans) *Wiremu (Māori language, Maori) *Willelm (Old English) *Williama (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian) *Wellëm (Luxembourgish) *Walaam (Persian language, Persian) *Wiliyom, Wiliyem (Bengali language, Bengali) *Vĩnh Liêm, Vĩnh Lâm (Vietnamese language, Vietnamese) *Billem (Toba Batak language, Toba Batak) *Cuglierme (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) *Guilhem (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) *Уилиам – Uiliam (Bulgarian language, Bulgarian) *װֶעלװֶעל – /ˈvelvel/ (Yiddish) *Villem, Villu (Estonian language, Estonian) *Вильгельм, Уильям – Vil'gel'm, Uil'yam (Russian language, Russian) *Вільгельм, Вільям – Vil'hel'm, Vil'yam (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian) *Уільям, Вільям – Uiĺjam, Viĺjam (Belarusian language, Belarusian) *Villem – Estonian language, Estonian *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 propronunciation), /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) *Vilhjálmr (Old Norse) *Vilko (Croatian language, Croatian) *Vilyam, Vilyım (Turkish language, Turkish) *Vėljams (Samogitian dialect, Samogitian) *Γουλιέλμος (Wouliélmos) (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) *Saint William (disambiguation) *Wilhelm (disambiguation)References
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