.gif)
William (name)
Encyclopedia
William is a popular given name of old Germanic
origin. It became very popular in the English language
after the Norman conquest of England
in 1066, 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.
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"; or halm (straw, upright) 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.
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 Hrēodbēorht
), Richard
, Roger
(the English cognate was Hroðgar
), 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.
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). While the Census Bureau did not report the frequency of first (or fore) names in 2000, it did report that 1,534,042 Americans shared the Williams surname. According to the U.S. Social Security Administration, William was ranked as the 5th most popular baby name in 2009.
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
origin. It became very popular in the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
after the Norman conquest of England
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
in 1066, and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. The modern German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
equivalent is "Wilhelm
Wilhelm
Wilhelm may refer to:* Wilhelm I, German Emperor , King of Prussia and German Emperor* Wilhelm II, German Emperor , grandson of the former, King of Prussia and German Emperor* Wilhelm , a character in Xenosaga...
." It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." The name's shortened familiar version in English is Bill, Billy, Will or Willie. A common Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
form is Liam. Female forms are Willa, Willemina, Wilma and Wilhelmina.
Origins
WilliamWilliam
-British:*William I of England , aka William the Conqueror, William the Bastard*William II of England , aka William Rufus*William I of Scotland -British:*William I of England (1027-1087), aka William the Conqueror, William the Bastard*William II of England (1056-1100), aka William Rufus*William I...
is from the Old Norman
Norman language
Norman is a Romance language and one of the Oïl languages. Norman can be classified as one of the northern Oïl languages along with Picard and Walloon...
form Williame, corresponding to the French spelling Guillaume
Guillaume
Guillaume, the French equivalent of William, may refer to:-A:*Guillaume Amontons*Guillaume Apollinaire , a poet, writer and art critic.-B:*Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas...
, and is a cognate from the German Wilhelm
Wilhelm
Wilhelm may refer to:* Wilhelm I, German Emperor , King of Prussia and German Emperor* Wilhelm II, German Emperor , grandson of the former, King of Prussia and German Emperor* Wilhelm , a character in Xenosaga...
, and of Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
origin: wil = "will or desire"; helm; Old English helm "helmet, protection"; or halm (straw, upright) thus the Old German
Old German
Old German usually refers to Old High German, but it could also refer to:*Old Low German *Altdeutsche Tracht , a dress style popular among early 19th century German radicals...
name Wilhelm and the Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
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
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
's cousin William of Gellone
William of Gellone
Saint William of Gellone was the second Count of Toulouse from 790 until his replacement in 811. His Occitan name is Guilhem, and he is known in French as Guillaume d'Orange, Guillaume Fierabrace, and the Marquis au court nez.He is the hero of the Chanson de Guillaume, an early chanson de geste,...
, a.k.a. Guilhelm, William of Orange, Guillaume Fierabrace, or William Short-Nose (755—812). This William is immortalized in the Chanson de Guillaume
Chanson de Guillaume
The Chanson de Guillaume or Chançun de Willame is a chanson de geste from the first half of the twelfth-century The Chanson de Guillaume or Chançun de Willame (English: "Song of William") is a chanson de geste from the first half of the twelfth-century The Chanson de Guillaume or Chançun de...
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 languageAnglo-Norman language
Anglo-Norman is the name traditionally given to the kind of Old Norman used in England and to some extent elsewhere in the British Isles during the Anglo-Norman period....
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
Robert
The name Robert is a Germanic given name, from hrod "fame" and beraht "bright". It is also in use as a surname.After becoming widely used in Continental Europe it entered England in its Old French form Robert, where an Old English cognate form had existed before the Norman Conquest...
(the English cognate was Hrēodbēorht
Robert
The name Robert is a Germanic given name, from hrod "fame" and beraht "bright". It is also in use as a surname.After becoming widely used in Continental Europe it entered England in its Old French form Robert, where an Old English cognate form had existed before the Norman Conquest...
), Richard
Richard
The first or given name Richard derives from German, French, and English "ric" and "hard" , therefore it means 'powerful leader' as well as 'King's Court'...
, Roger
Roger
Roger is primarily a common first name of English, French and Catalan usage, from the Germanic elements hrod and ger meaning "famous with the spear." The Latin form of the name is Rogerius, as used by a few medieval figures.The name Roger was transmitted to England by the Normans after the...
(the English cognate was Hroðgar
Hroðgar
Hroðgar, King Hroþgar, "Hrothgar", Hróarr, Hroar, Roar, Roas or Ro was a legendary Danish king, living in the early 6th century....
), Henry
Henry (surname)
Henry is an English male given name and a surname, borrowed from Old French, originally of Germanic origin from the elements haim and ric...
and Hugh
Hugh (given name)
- Origins :Hugh is a masculine given name.It comes from the subject case of the French name : Hugues, which is itself a refection from the Occitan. Regular French spelling is Hue . It is of Germanic origin Hugo, used as a common spelling across Europe...
(all of Germanic origin, transmitted through the Normans' use of Old French
Old French
Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...
).
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.
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). While the Census Bureau did not report the frequency of first (or fore) names in 2000, it did report that 1,534,042 Americans shared the Williams surname. According to the U.S. Social Security Administration, William was ranked as the 5th most popular baby name in 2009.
Name variants
Alternative forms include:- Wiriyamu, (Shona)
- Whiriyamu, (Karanga)
- Whiliyamu, (Ndebele)
- Wilhelm (GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, PolishPolish languagePolish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
) - Willem, Wilhelmus, Wim, Pim, Jelle (DutchDutch languageDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
, Frisian, Low GermanLow GermanLow German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands...
) - Wiremu (MaoriMaori languageMāori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
) - Willelm (Old English)
- Wellëm (LuxembourgishLuxembourgish languageLuxembourgish is a High German language spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 320,000 people worldwide speak Luxembourgish.-Language family:...
) - Gilen, Guilen (BasqueBasque languageBasque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
) - Gulielmus (LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
) - Guglielmo (ItalianItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
) - Guillaume (FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
) - Guildhelm (Old DutchOld DutchIn linguistics, Old Dutch denotes the forms of West Franconian spoken and written in the Netherlands and present-day northern Belgium during the Early Middle Ages. It is regarded as the primary stage in the development of a separate Dutch language...
) - Guilhem (Occitan)
- Guillem, Guim (CatalanCatalan languageCatalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
) - Guillén (AragoneseAragonese languageAragonese is a Romance language now spoken in a number of local varieties by between 10,000 and 30,000 people over the valleys of the Aragón River, Sobrarbe and Ribagorza in Aragon, Spain...
) - Guillermo (SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
) - Guilherme (PortuguesePortuguese languagePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
) - Guillerme (GalicianGalician languageGalician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
) - Gwilym (WelshWelsh languageWelsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
) - Gwilherm (BretonBreton languageBreton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...
) - Gugghiermu (SicilianSicilian languageSicilian is a Romance language. Its dialects make up the Extreme-Southern Italian language group, which are spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands; in southern and central Calabria ; in the southern parts of Apulia, the Salento ; and Campania, on the Italian mainland, where it is...
) - Gllâome (Modern NormanNorman languageNorman is a Romance language and one of the Oïl languages. Norman can be classified as one of the northern Oïl languages along with Picard and Walloon...
) - Illiam (Manx GaelicManx languageManx , also known as Manx Gaelic, and as the Manks language, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, historically spoken by the Manx people. Only a small minority of the Island's population is fluent in the language, but a larger minority has some knowledge of it...
) - UilleamUilleamUilleam is a masculine given name in the Scottish Gaelic language. It is the equivalent of the name William in English.-List of people with the given name:*Uilleam, Earl of Mar*Uilleam I, Earl of Ross*Uilleam II, Earl of Ross*Uilleam III, Earl of Ross...
(Scottish Gaelic) - Uilliam (Irish GaelicIrish languageIrish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
) - LiamLiamLiam is a 2000 British-German film directed by Stephen Frears and written by novelist/screenwriter Jimmy McGovern. McGovern adapted Joseph Mckeown's novel Back Crack Boy into this emotionally raw meditation on innocence and pain...
(Irish GaelicIrish languageIrish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
) - Uilliam (AlbanianAlbanian languageAlbanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
) - Уилиам - Uiliam (BulgarianBulgarian languageBulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
) - װֶעלװֶעל - /ˈvelvel/ (YiddishYiddish languageYiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
) - Villem, Villu (EstonianEstonian languageEstonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
) - Уильям - William, Вильям - William, Вильгельм - Vil'gel'm (RussianRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
) - Вільгельм - Vil'hel'm (UkrainianUkrainian languageUkrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
) - Vilhelm (DanishDanish languageDanish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
, NorwegianNorwegian languageNorwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
, RomanianRomanian languageRomanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
, SwedishSwedish languageSwedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
) - Vilhelmo (EsperantoEsperantois the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
) - Viliam (SlovakSlovak languageSlovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
) - Viljem (Slovene)
- ויליאם - /ˈviljam/ (older propronunciation), /ˈwiljam/ (contemporary) (HebrewHebrew languageHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
) - Vilim (CroatianCroatian languageCroatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
) - Vilém (CzechCzech languageCzech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
) - Vilmos (HungarianHungarian languageHungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
) - Viljams, Vilhelms, Vilis (LatvianLatvian languageLatvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language...
) - Vilius, Viliumas (LithuanianLithuanian languageLithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
) - Viljami, Ville, Vilho, Viljo (FinnishFinnish languageFinnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
) - Vilhjálmur (IcelandicIcelandic languageIcelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...
) - Vilhjálmur, Viljam (FaroeseFaroese languageFaroese , is an Insular Nordic language spoken by 48,000 people in the Faroe Islands and about 25,000 Faroese people in Denmark and elsewhere...
) - Vilhjálmr (Old NorseOld NorseOld Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
) - Vilyam, Vilyım (TurkishTurkish languageTurkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
) - Vėljams (Samogitian)
- Γουλιέλμος - Gouliélmos (GreekGreek languageGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
) - ウィリアム(Wiriamu) (JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
) - 威廉 (Wēilían ChineseChinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
), for persons whose original name is in English or German, for other languages there are other versions.