William

German

"resolute protection"

William Origin and Meaning

The name William is a boy's name of English origin meaning "resolute protection".

William is one of the most enduring of classic names for boys. It's also among the most popular boys' names, as American parents see it as being ideally conservative yet contemporary, and hands-down the most popular baby name beginning with W of all time.

For 400 years, William has been second only to John as the most popular name in the English-speaking world. And now of course, it's also a newsy name—thanks to Britain's high-profile Prince William.

William is derived from the Germanic name Wilhelm, composed of the elements wil, "will," and helm, referring to a helmet or protection. The name was introduced to England by William the Conqueror, with William being the Norman variation of the name. In Central and Southern France, it was translated as Guillaume.

In terms of short forms, yesterday's Bills and Billys have given way to today's Wills—or Williams, with no diminutive—though a few hip Billys, including Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton's, have surfaced recently.

But Irish spinoff Liam is the most stylish William nickname and has now superseded William, becoming the most popular boy name in America. Riding the William bandwagon is the Dutch Willem, which comes with the unique nickname Pim.

William has long reigned as a royal name in the U.K. There are tons of worthy namesakes called William, including William Shakespeare, Bill Gates and four U.S. presidents.

William Rank in US Top 1000

# 10 in the US

William Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 40 on Nameberry

Popularity of the name William

• 10 US 2023
• 40 Nameberry 2025
• 5 Canada 2023
• 16 Future 2035
• 29 England 2023
• 66 Scotland 2024
• 67 Ireland 2024
• 10 Australia 2024
• 17 New Zealand 2024
• 93 France 2020
• 224 Germany 2016
• 62 Portugal 2018
• 313 Mexico 2021
• 2 Sweden 2024
• 6 Norway 2024
• 2 Denmark 2023
• 66 Belgium 2023
• 91 Switzerland 2023

20 Names Similar to William

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like William.

• Benjamin
• Thomas
• James
• Samuel
• Charles
• Jack
• Andrew
• Alexander
• Daniel
• Luke
• Edward
• Joseph
• David
• Nicholas
• Jacob
• Peter
• George
• Harry
• Matthew
• John

Famous People Named William

• William I the Conqueror first Norman King of England
• William II King of England
• William III of Orange King of Great Britain and Ireland
• William IV (William Henry) King of the United Kingdom
• William I (Willem Frederik) King of the Netherlands
• William II (Willem Frederik George Lodewijk) King of the Netherlands
• William III (Willem Alexander Paul Frederik Lodewijk) King of the Netherlands
• William I II, Princes of Orange
• William IV (Willem Karel Hendrik Friso) Prince of Orange
• William V (Willem Batavus) Prince of Orange
• William the Lion King of Scots
• William I III, Kings of Sicily
• William Arthur Philip Louis Prince of the United Kingdom; Duke of Cambridge; 2nd in line to the British throne
• William Tyndale English martyr who translated the Bible into English
• William Shakespeare English poet and writer
• William Henry Harrison 9th U.S. president
• William McKinley 25th U.S. president
• William Howard Taft 27th U.S. president
• William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton 42nd U.S. president
• William James "Bill" O'Reilly Jr. American television host
• William Cuthbert Faulkner American novelist
• William Temple Todd son of U.S. First Lady Dolley Madison
• William Wallace Lincoln son of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln
• William Henry Seward American politician, governor and senator from New York
• William Bradley "Brad" Pitt American actor
• William "Bill" Shatner Canadian actor
• William Henry "Bill" Gates American founder of Microsoft, Inc.
• William Wilberforce English abolitionist politician
• William Dawes rode with Paul Revere on the "Midnight Ride"
• William Stephens Smith husband of Abigail "Nabby" Adams, son,in,law of U.S. President John Adams
• William "Bill" Paxton American actor
• William Hall Macy American actor
• William Louis Petersen American actor
• William Peter Moseley English actor
• William James "Wil" Anderson Australian comedian
• William Turner Walton English composer
• William Denby "Bill" Hanna American cartoonist of Hanna,Barbera
• William James Adams aka Will.I.Am. American R&B singer
• William "Billy" Dean Martin musician of American band Good Charlotte
• William "Adam" West (Anderson) American actor
• William Emerson "Will" Arnett American actor
• William Henry "Hank" Green American comedian, YouTuber and educator
• William Justus Goebel American politician, governor of Kentucky
• William Miles "Will" Dunn English actor
• William Daniel Phillips American physicist and Nobel prize winner
• William Thomson British mathematical physicist and engineer
• William Henry Bragg physicist, mathematician & Nobel,prize winner
• William Lawrence Bragg Australian,British physicist & Nobel prize winner
• William John Paul "Liam" Gallagher lead singer of English band Oasis
• William Ford Gibson American novelist
• William Caxton English printing pioneer
• William "Bill" Hader actor/comedian/writer
• William James Hehir bass player on band MisterWives
• William "Will" Rankin Patton American Actor
• William Beckett lead singer of American band The Academy Is...
• William "Billy" Joel American singer/songwriter/pianist
• William Meynard French swimmer
• William Seward Burroughs I American inventor
• William Seward Burroughs II American writer
• Olajide William "JJ" Olatunji aka KSI English YouTuber
• Richard William "Wil" Wheaton American actor
• William "Bill" Anders American astronaut
• William Commons son of Scottish Footballer Kris Commons
• William True son of actress Kirstie Alley
• William Luca Costa Marsden, son of actor James Marsden
• William Wolf Howey son of Sarah Shahi & Steve Howey
• William Lawson Bates 4th child (2nd son) of the reality TV show "Bringing Up Bates" family
• William "Billy" John Kimmel (b. 2017) son of American television host, comedian, writer, and producer Jimmy Kimmel
• William Hammington (b. 2016) son of Australian comedian Samuel Hammington
• William Behr Jenner (b. 2019) son of Burt Jenner and Valerie Pitalo

The name William in Pop Culture

• William Harold Ryan "Will" Munson character on American soap As The World Turns
• William "Will" Halstead character on TV's Chicago Med.
• (William) Sherlock Scott Holmes main character on TV's "Sherlock"
• William Afton villain in Five Nights at Freddy's games and book
• William "Bill" Weasley character in the Harry Potter series
• William "Bill" Forbes II character on TV's "The Vampire Diaries", father of Caroline Forbes.
• William "Bill" Compton character on TV's 'True Blood'
• William Riker character on TV's 'Star Trek: the Next Generation'
• William "Will" Truman character on TV's 'Will & Grace'
• William "Will" Shuester character on TV's 'Glee'
• William "Will" Owen Herondale character from the Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare
• William Brown main character in the Just William series by Richmal Crompton
• William Birkin character in the video game series "Resident Evil"
• William Baker character in the Spider,Man series
• William 'Will' Turner character in the Pirates of the Caribbean series
• William Murdoch character on TV's "Murdoch Mysteries"
• William Collins main character in film 'Chatroom'
• William 'Will' Gardner character on TV's 'The Good Wife'
• William 'Will' Parry character in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series
• William Scully baby on TV's "The X,Files"
• William "Bill" Mulder father of Fox William Mulder of "The X,Files"
• William Mason footman on TV's "Downton Abbey"
• William Townsend character in "Yesterday's child" by Barbara Wood
• William "Bill" Denbrough character in "It"
• William Buxton character on TV's "Return to Cranford"
• William 'Will' Gorski character on sense8
• William "Will" Turner character in movie/book "Me before you"
• William Sayre character in J.K. Rowling's "Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry"
• William the Pukwudgie character in J.K. Rowling's "Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry"
• William Clayton character on TV's "Arrow"
• William "Penny" Adiyodi character in "The Magicians"
• William Stryker character in "X,Men"
• William "Will" Byers character in "Stranger Things"
• William "Will" Munny character in "Unforgiven"
• William "Billy" McMahon main character in film "The Internship"
• William "Bill" Cage main character in film "Edge of Tomorrow"
• William Pratt birth name of Spike, on TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel"
• William Vanderboom character in the Rusty Lake and Cube Escape series
• William Grey character in the 1996 film "Independence Day" General, USMC, the head of the United States Space Command.Played by Robert Loggia , he modeled the character after World War II generals, particularly George S. Patton.
• William “Will” Solace character in the Riordanverse
• William Patterson female character on TV's "Blindspot"
• James Ratri aka William Minerva character in the manga/anime series "The Promised Neverland"
• William "Billy" Dunne Character in "Daisy Jones & The Six"