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William is a popular proper name of old Germanic origin.^[1] It became very popular in the English language after the Norman Conquest of 1066, and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. The modern German equivalent is "Wilhelm." It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." The name's shortened familiar version in English is Bill or Billy or "Will".

William is from the Norman language derived from the German Wilhelm, and of Germanic origin: wil = "will, desire"; helm = "helmet, protection";^[1] thus the Old German name Wilhelm and the Old Norse name Vilhjálmr have the same roots. The Belgian name "Guildhelm" means "harnessed with a gilded helmet".

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, Richard, Roger, and Hugh (all of Germanic origin, transmitted through the Normans' use of Old French). The name was so popular, in fact, that history records an event in Normandy in 1171 where Henry the Young King held court for Christmas which included 110 knights named "William"-- the Williams had gathered in a room and refused to allow any one to eat with them, unless they were named William.

During the Middle Ages the word "cock" was used to describe a self-assured young man (taken after the image of a strutting self-assured rooster). As a result this nickname was applied to a number of names, including William which is where the name Wilcox comes from.

The name Wilkin is also of medieval origin taken from the shortened version of William (Will) with the suffix "kin" added. Kin means small or little, thus Wilkin means "Little William".

In the 16th century during the Reformation, Protestants abandoned the usage of Catholic names such as William, instead using Biblical names.

According to the 1990 U.S. Census the name William was the 5th most popular first name with 2.451% of the male population (around three million), and the last name Williams was the 3rd most common last name with 0.699% of the population (around 1,747,500 people).

The following historic "first" Williams are of national historic importance.

• King William I of England (1027-1087); William the Conqueror, William the Bastard; Norman Conquest of England.
• King William I of Scotland (1142-1214); William the Lion; Scottish royal standard bears his symbol.
• Prince William I of Orange (1533-1584); William the Silent, "Father of the fatherland"; Eighty Years' War leads to Dutch independence.
• King William III of England (William I of Ireland) (1650-1702); William III of Orange; Williamite war in Ireland (amongst Protestants).
• William I, King of Prussia, German Emperor (1871-1888); Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; first leader of a truly unified Germany of the modern era, as Kaiser of the German Empire.

Alternate forms include:

• Wilhelm (German, Polish)
• Willem, Wim (Dutch, Low German)
• Jelle (Frisian)
• Wiremu (Maori)
• 威廉 - Wēi Lián (Chinese)
• ウィリアム - Uiriamu (Japanese)
• Gulielmus (Latin)
• Guglielmo (Italian)
• Guillaume (French)
• Guildhelm (Flemish)
• Guilhem (Occitan)
• Guillem (Catalan)
• Guillén (Aragonese)
• Guillermo (Spanish)
• Guilherme (Portuguese)
• Gwilym (Welsh)
• Gwilherm (Breton)
• Illiam (Manx Gaelic)
• Uilleam (Gaelic)
• Uilliam (Irish Gaelic)
• װֶעלװֶעל - Velvel (Yiddish)
• Вильгельм - Vilgelm (Russian)
• Vilhelm (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish)
• Vilhelmo (Esperanto)
• Viliam (Slovak, Slovene)
• ויליאם - Vylyam (Hebrew)
• Вилим - Vilim (Serbian)
• Vilém (Czech)
• Vilmos (Hungarian)
• Vilhelms (Latvian)
• Vilius, Viliumas (Lithuanian)
• Viljami, Ville (Finnish)
• Vilhjálmur (Icelandic)
• Γουλιέλμος - Gouliélmos (Greek)

• All pages beginning with "William"

1. ^ ^{a b} Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, Oxford Dictionary of First Names, Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1, p.276.