William

William comes from the Germanic name Willehelm, meaning “will helmet,” formed from willo, “will, desire,” and helm, “helmet, protection.” It was borne by an early saint, William of Gellone, an 8th-century cousin of Charlemagne who became a monk, and was widely used among the Normans before becoming extremely popular in England after William the Conqueror was recognized as the first Norman king in the 11th century; from then into the modern era, it remained one of the most common English names alongside John, Thomas, and Robert. The name was later used by three other English kings and by rulers of Scotland, Sicily, the Netherlands, and Prussia, and it is also associated with figures such as William Wallace and William Tell, whose name forms vary in German, French, and Italian. In literature, it was borne by William Shakespeare, William Blake, William Wordsworth, William Butler Yeats, William Faulkner, and William S. Burroughs. In the United States, it has stayed in the top 20 since 1880 without ever reaching first place, while the short form Liam has sometimes been more popular, notably in the United Kingdom in the 1990s and the United States in the 2010s.

William has unusual staying power. It appears in the US records as early as 1880 and still ranks #9 for boys in 2025. Its highest annual birth count came in 1947, with 67,002 births.