William
William the Conqueror. The name William became very popular in the English language after the Norman Conquest of 1066 by William the Conqueror.
Pronunciation	/ˈwɪljəm/
Gender	Male
Origin
Word/Name	Germanic languages
Meaning	will + helmet (protection)
Region of origin	Northern Europe
Other names
Nickname(s)	Will, Bill, Billy, Willie, Willy, Liam, Willem, Wim
Related names	Wilhelm, Guillermo, Guillaume, Gwilym
Popularity	see popular names

Look up William in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

William is a popular given name of old Germanic origin.^[1] It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of England in 1066,^[2] and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. The modern German and Polish equivalent is "Wilhelm." It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." The name's shortened familiar version in English is Bill, Billy, Will or Willie. A common Irish form is Liam. Female forms are Willa, Willemina, Wilma and Wilhelmina.

Origins [edit]

William is from the Old Norman form Williame, corresponding to the French spelling Guillaume, and is a cognate from the German Wilhelm, and of Germanic origin: wil = "will or desire"; helm; Old English helm "helmet, protection";^[1] thus the Old German name Wilhelm and the Old Norse name Vilhjálmr have the same roots. The name William has today been interpreted to mean protector of the kingdom or realm.

The first well-known carrier of the name was Charlemagne's cousin William of Gellone, a.k.a. Guilhelm, 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 [edit]

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^[3]), Richard, Roger (the English cognate was Hroðgar^[4]), Henry and Hugh (all of Germanic origin, transmitted through the Normans' use of Old French).

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.^[5]

Name variants [edit]

Alternative forms include:

• Wullie, (Scottish Slang)
• Wiriyamu, (Shona)
• Whiriyamu, (Karanga)
• Whiliyamu, (Ndebele)
• Wilhelm (German, Polish, Swedish)
• Willem, Wilhelmus, Wim, Pim, Jelle (Dutch, Frisian, Low German)
• Wiremu (Maori)
• Willelm (Old English)
• Wellëm (Luxembourgish)
• Walaam (Persian)
• Cuglierme (Neapolitan)
• Gilen, Guilen (Basque)
• Gulielmus (Latin)
• Guglielmo (Italian)
• Guillaume (French)
• Guildhelm (Old Dutch)
• Guilhem Occitan)
• Guillem, Guim (Catalan)
• Guillén (Aragonese)
• Guillermo (Spanish)
• Guilherme (Portuguese)
• Guillerme (Galician)
• Gwilym (Welsh)
• Gwilherm (Breton)
• Gugghiermu (Sicilian)
• Gllâome (Modern Norman)
• Illiam (Manx Gaelic)
• Uilleam (Scottish Gaelic)
• Uilliam (Irish Gaelic)
• Liam (Irish Gaelic)
• Melhem (Arabic)
• Gulielm (Albanian)
• Уилиам - Uiliam (Bulgarian)
• װֶעלװֶעל - /ˈvelvel/ (Yiddish)
• Villem, Villu (Estonian)
• Уильям - William, Вильям - William, Вильгельм - Vil'gel'm (Russian)
• Вільгельм - Vil'hel'm (Ukrainian)
• Vilhelm (Danish, Norwegian, Romanian, Swedish)
• Vilhelmo (Esperanto)
• Viliam (Slovak)
• Viljem (Slovene)
• ויליאם - /ˈviljam/ (older propronunciation), /ˈwiljam/ (contemporary) (Hebrew)
• Vilim (Croatian)
• Vilém (Czech)
• Vilmos (Hungarian)
• Viljams, Vilhelms, Vilis (Latvian)
• Vilius, Viliumas (Lithuanian)
• Viljami, Ville, Vilho, Viljo (Finnish)
• Vilhjálmur (Icelandic)
• Vilhjálmur, Viljam (Faroese)^[6]
• Vilhjálmr (Old Norse)
• Vilyam, Vilyım (Turkish)
• Vėljams (Samogitian)
• Γουλιέλμος - Gouliélmos (Greek)
• Γουλιελμάκης -Goulielmakis (Greek)
• Γιλιαμ (Greek)
• Գուլիելմոս - Goulielmós (Armenian)^[7]
• ウィリアム(Wiriamu) (Japanese)
• 威廉 (Wēilían Chinese), for persons whose original name is in English or German, for other languages there are other versions.

Shortened names

• Bill (standard diminutive in the United States)
• Billy
• Billiam
• Will, Willie, Willy
• Wilson
• Liam (Irish)

References [edit]