William is a masculine
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 f ...
of
Germanic origin. It became popular in England after 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 Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
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 or Wil, Wills, Willy, Willie, Bill, Billie, and Billy.
A common Irish form is Liam. Scottish diminutives include Wull, Willie or Wullie (as in Oor Wullie
''Oor Wullie'' () is a Scottish comic strip published in the D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, D.C. Thomson newspaper ''The Sunday Post''. It features a character called Wullie; Wullie is a Scots language, Scots nickname for boys named William, equival ...
). Female forms include 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 Brow ...
, Willemina Willemina is a Dutch feminine given name similar to Wilhelmina. Bearers often use a short form in daily life, including ''Ineke'', ''Mien'', ''Miep'', ''Wil'', ''Will'', ''Willeke'', ''Minnie,'' ''Willy'', ''Willie'' and ''Wilma''. People with th ...
, 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 linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...
''*Wiljahelmaz'', with a direct cognate also in the Old Norse
Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...
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".[Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', ]Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2nd edition, , p. 276.
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 refers to William the Conqueror
William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...
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
Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...
's cousin William of Gellone (755–812). This William is immortalized in the Chanson de Guillaume
The ''Chanson de Guillaume'', also called ''Chançun de Willame'' ( English: "Song of William"), is a ''chanson de geste
The , from 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poetry, epic poem that appears at the ...
, 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 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), and Henry (all of Germanic origin and may have been transmitted through the Normans' use of Old French
Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th ).
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)
*Willum ( Scots)
*Viliamu ( Samoan)
*Viliami ( Tongan)
*Whiriyamu (Ikalanga language">Karanga)
*Whiliyamu (Northern Ndebele language">Ndebele)
*Wilhelm ( German, Polish, Swedish)
*Willem, Wilhelmus, Wim (Dutch language">Dutch, Frisian languages">Frisian, Low German">Dutch_language">Dut.html" ;"title="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)
*Wilhelmus (Indonesian language, Indonesian)
*Wëllem (Luxembourgish)
*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 languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
)
*Guglielmo ( Italian)
*Guillaume ( French)
*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)
*Gugghiermu ( Sicilian)
*Gllâome (Modern Norman)
*Uilliam ( Irish)
* Liam ( Irish)
*Illiam ( Manx Gaelic)
* Uilleam ( Scottish Gaelic)
*وِلْيَم – William (Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
)
*Уилям – Uiliam ( Bulgarian)
*װֶעלװֶעל – /ˈvelvel/ (Yiddish
Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
)
*Villem, Villu ( Estonian)
*Вильгельм, Гильом, Уильям – Vil'gel'm, Gil'yom, Uilyam ( Russian)
*Вільгельм, Вільям – Vil'hel'm, Vil'yam ( Ukrainian)
*Уільям, Вільям – Uiĺjam, Viĺjam ( Belarusian)
* Vilhelm ( Danish, Norwegian, Romanian, Swedish)
*Vilhelmo ( Esperanto)
* Vilhelms ( Latvian)
*Viliam ( Slovak)
*Viljem ( Slovene)
*ויליאם – /ˈviljam/ (older pronunciation), /ˈwiljam/ (contemporary) (Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
)
*Vilim ( Croatian)
*Вилијам ( Serbian)
*Vilém ( Czech)
*Vilmos ( Hungarian)
*Viljams, Vilhelms, Vilis ( Latvian)
*Vilius, Viliumas, Vilhelmas ( Lithuanian)
*Viljami, Ville, Vilho, Viljo ( Finnish)
*Vilhjálmur ( Icelandic)
*Vilhjálmur, Viljormur ( Faroese)
*Vilhjalmr (Old Norse
Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...
)
*Vilko ( Croatian)
*Vilyam, Vilyım ( Turkish)
*Vėljams ( Samogitian)
*Γουλιέλμος (Gouliélmos) ( Greek)
*ܘܠܝܡ (Wil-yam) ( Assyrian)
*Գուլիելմոս (Goulielmós) ( 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