William


Gender:
Origin: German
27645 famous people named William found on Wikipedia.
4117008 male, 15959 female in US.
Most recent ranking: 3-th in year 2018
Best ranking: 2nd in year 1920
Used in: English

Meanings

A male given name: from Germanic words meaning “will” and “helmet.”.

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. It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." The name's shortened familiar version in English is Bill, Billy, Will, Willy, or Willie. A common Irish form is Liam. Female forms are Willa, Willemina, Willamette, Wilma and Wilhelmina.

Masc. proper name, from Old North French Willaume, Norman form of French Guillaume, of Germanic origin (cognates: Old High German Willahelm, German Wilhelm), from willio "will" (see will (n.)) + helma "helmet," from Proto-Germanic *helmaz "protective covering" (from PIE root *kel- (1) "to cover, conceal, save;" compare helm (n.2)). After the Conquest, the most popular given name in England until supplanted by John.

Combine of wil (will, desire) and helm (helmet, protection).

Famous People: 27645 found on Wikipedia.
Popularity Name Birth Year Description
1 William Shakespeare 1564 English playwright and poet
2 William Shatner 1931 Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, author, and film director
3 William Gibson 1948 American-Canadian speculative fiction novelist and founder of the cyberpunk subgenre
4 William I of England 1028 First Norman King of England
5 William H. Macy 1950 American actor, screenwriter, teacher and director in theater, film and television
6 William McKinley 1843 American politician, 25th president of the United States (in office from 1897 to 1901)
7 William III 1650 Prince of Orange, King of England, Scotland and Ireland
8 William Wallace 1270 Scottish landowner and leader in the Wars for the Scottish Independence
9 William Henry Harrison 1773 American general and politician, 9th president of the United States (in office in 1841)
10 William IV of the United Kingdom 1765 King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover
11 William Howard Taft 1857 American politician, 27th president of the United States (in office from 1909 to 1913)
12 William Baldwin 1963 Actor and producer from the United States
13 William Hurt 1950 American actor
14 William Fichtner 1956 US actor
15 William Blake 1757 English Romantic poet and artist
16 William Wordsworth 1770 English Romantic poet
17 William Randolph Hearst 1863 Newspaper publisher
18 William Holden 1918 American actor
19 William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne 1779 British Whig statesman
20 William Faulkner 1897 American writer
21 William Tecumseh Sherman 1820 American General, businessman, educator, and author.
22 William S. Burroughs 1914 American novelist, short story writer, essayist, painter, and spoken word performer
23 Williams Levy 1980 Cuban-American actor and model
24 William Moseley 1987 British actor
25 William Jennings Bryan 1860 United States Secretary of State
26 William James 1842 American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist
27 William Morris 1834 Author, designer, and craftsman
28 William Daniels 1927 Actor
29 William Rehnquist 1924 Chief Justice of the United States
30 William Christopher 1932 American actor
31 William Penn 1644 English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, early Quaker and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania
32 William Wilberforce 1759 English politician
33 William Petersen 1953 American actor
34 William Frawley 1887 Actor
35 William Powell 1892 Actor from the United States
36 William Mapother 1965 American actor
37 William H. Masters 1915 American gynecologist
38 William Regal 1968 Professional wrestler
39 William S. Harley 1880 American businessman
40 William Devane 1937 Actor
41 William M. Tweed 1823 United States politician
42 William Kidd 1645 Scottish sailor who was tried and executed for piracy after returning from a voyage to the Indian Ocean
43 William Zabka 1965 Actor, screenwriter, producer
44 William Katt 1951 American actor and comedian
45 William Sadler 1950 American actor
46 William Ewart Gladstone 1809 British Liberal politician and prime minister of the United Kingdom
47 William Pitt the Younger 1759 British politician
48 William Poole 1821 American boxer
49 William Hopper 1915 American actor
50 William II of England 1060 King of England
51 William Hartnell 1908 English actor
52 William Tell Folk hero of Switzerland
53 William Golding 1911 British novelist, poet, playwright and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate
54 William Lloyd Garrison 1805 American journalist
55 William James Sidis 1898 Child prodigy
56 William Tyndale 1494 Bible translator and agitator from England
57 William Wallace Lincoln 1850 Third son of Abraham Lincoln
58 William Hague 1961 British politician
59 William H. Seward 1801 American lawyer and politician
60 William Hanna 1910 Animator and cartoonist, Distinguished Eagle Scout
61 William Calley 1943 Convicted US-war criminal from the Vietnam War
62 William Frank Buckley, Jr. 1925 American conservative author and commentator
63 Wilhelm I of Germany 1797 1797-1888, King of Prussia and the first German Emperor
64 William Harvey 1578 English physician
65 William Forsythe 1955 American actor
66 William Bligh 1754 Officer of the British Royal Navy and a colonial administrator
67 William John Tell 1980 American rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist
68 William Lyon Mackenzie King 1874 10th Prime Minister of Canada
69 William Adams 1564 English navigator who travelled to Japan
70 William Roache 1932 English actor
71 William Friedkin 1935 American film director, producer and screenwriter
72 William Moulton Marston 1893 American psychologist, lawyer, inventor and comic book writer
73 William Herschel 1738 German-born British astronomer, technical expert, and composer
74 William Gates 1971 American basketball player
75 William Smith 1933 American actor
76 William Henry Vanderbilt 1821 American philanthropist
77 William Conrad 1920 American film, television director, actor and narrator
78 William Bradford 1590 English Separatist leader in Leiden, Holland and in Plymouth Colony
79 William Guarnere 1923 United States Army paratrooper during World War II
80 William the Silent 1533 Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht, leader of the Dutch Revolt
81 William Patrick Stuart-Houston 1911 Nephew of Adolf Hitler
82 William Westmoreland 1914 Retired United States Army four-star general
83 William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin 1824 British physicist and engineer
84 William Hung 1983 American singer
85 William Carvalho 1992 Portuguese footballer
86 William Goldman 1931 American novelist, screenwriter and playwright
87 William H. McRaven 1955 United States admiral
88 William B. Davis 1938 Canadian actor
89 William Schallert 1922 Actor from the United States
90 William Heirens 1928 Convicted serial killer
91 William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke 1146 Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman
92 William Kristol 1952 American writer
93 William Russell 1924 English actor, born 1924
94 Willy William 1970 French-Mauritian DJ, record producer and singer
95 William Joyce 1906 British fascist
96 William Bonin 1947 American serial killer
97 William Shockley 1910 American physicist and inventor
98 William Carlos Williams 1883 American poet
99 William M. Branham 1909 American Christian minister
100 William O. Douglas 1898 Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
101 William Kennedy Smith 1960 American physician
102 William Hogarth 1697 English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic, and editorial cartoonist
103 William Gallas 1977 French footballer
104 William Wyler 1902 American film director, producer and screenwriter
105 William B. Travis 1809 Alamo defender
106 William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham 1708 British politician
107 William Peter Blatty 1928 American writer and filmmaker
108 William Still 1821 American activist
109 William J. Crawford 1918 United States Army Medal of Honor recipient
110 William Brocius 1842 Gunman, rustler, outlaw
111 William S. Sessions 1930 American judge
112 William Makepeace Thackeray 1811 Novelist
113 William Stewart Halsted 1852 American surgeon
114 William Atherton 1947 American actor
115 William Windom 1923 American actor
116 William Clark 1770 American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor
117 William Wesley 1964 Baseball executive
118 William Asher 1921 Director, producer, screenwriter
119 William J. Bratton 1947 American police officer
120 William Lane Craig 1949 American Christian apologist and evangelist
121 William Riker Fictional character in Star Trek
122 William Leonard Pickard 1945 Writer and researcher
123 William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley 1520 English statesman
124 William R. Moses 1959 Actor
125 William Singe 1992
126 William McMaster Murdoch 1873 British sailor
127 William Nylander Altelius 1996 Canadian-Swedish ice hockey player
128 William Congreve 1670 British writer
129 William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe 1729 British General in the American War of Independence
130 William DuVall 1967 American musician
131 William Hickey 1927 American actor
132 William Owens 1980
133 William of Ockham 1287 Medieval philosopher and theologian
134 William Sanderson 1944 American character actor
135 William Brewster 1566 Religious emigrant to North America and leader there
136 William M. Bulger 1934 American retired Democratic Party politician, lawyer, and educator
137 William Cohen 1940 American politician
138 William Rockefeller, Sr. 1810 American con artist
139 William Quantrill 1837 Confederate Army officer
140 William Luther Pierce 1933 American white nationalist
141 William Bendix 1906 American actor (1906-1964)
142 William Demarest 1892 Actor
143 William Lucking 1941 American actor
144 William Bennett 1943 American politician
145 William I of the Netherlands 1772 King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg 1815 - 1840
146 William Osler 1849 Canadian pathologist, physician, educator, bibliophile, historian, author, cofounder of Johns Hopkins Hospital
147 William T. Anderson 1839 American guerrilla fighter
148 William Boeing 1881 American aviation pioneer and founder of The Boeing Company
149 William McDonough 1951 American architect
150 William II of the Netherlands 1792 King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg 1840 - 1849
151 William Franklin 1731 American soldier, attorney, and colonial administrator
152 William Lyon Mackenzie 1795 Canadian politician
153 William Kamkwamba 1987 Malawian inventor and author
154 William the Lion 1142 King of the Scots from 1165 to 1214
155 William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire 1748 British aristocrat and politician
156 William Walker 1824 Filibuster
157 William Cohn 2000 German actor, voice actor and singer
158 William III of the Netherlands 1817 King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg 1849 - 1890
159 William Rockefeller 1841 American financier, businessman, and Standard Oil co-founder
160 William McGonagall 1825 Weaver, actor, poet
161 William Godwin 1756 English journalist, political philosopher and novelist
162 William F. Garrison 1944 United States Army officer
163 William Chan 1985 Hong Kong singer
164 William Carey 1761 English Baptist missionary and a Particular Baptist minister
165 William R. King 1786 American politician
166 William Rees-Mogg 1928 British journalist
167 William J. Donovan 1883 United States Army General, Medal of Honor recipient, and civil servant
168 William Onyeabor 1946 Nigerian funk musician
169 William Clay Ford 1957 American businessman
170 William Edward Binney 2000 Former U.S. intelligence official and cryptoanalyst; whistleblower
171 William Saroyan 1908 American writer
172 William H. Gates, Sr. 1925 American attorney and philanthropist
173 William C. Durant 1861 American businessman
174 William Russ 1950 Actor, television director
175 William Talman 1915 American actor
176 William Barrett 1913 American academic
177 William Colby 1920 American intelligence agent
178 William Byrd 1543 British composer
179 William D. Swenson 1978 Medal of Honor recipient and former U.S. Army captain
180 William M. Daley 1948 American lawyer and former banker
181 William S. Hamilton 1797 American politician
182 William Rowan Hamilton 1805 Irish physicist, astronomer, and mathematician
183 William H. Pryor, Jr. 1962 American judge
184 William I, Duke of Normandy 0905 Duke of Normandy
185 William Blackstone 1723 English jurist, judge and Tory politician
186 William Booth 1829 British Methodist preacher
187 William Caxton 1422 English merchant, diplomat, writer and printer
188 William Desmond Taylor 1872 US film director and actor
189 William "B.J." Blazkowicz Fictional Character in Wolfenstein Videogames
190 William S. Paley 1901 Television executive
191 William Jefferson Blythe, Jr. 1918 Birth father of 42nd U.S. President Bill Clinton
192 William Tappan Thompson 1812 American humorist
193 William Ernest Henley 1849 English poet, critic and editor
194 William Halsey 1882 United States admiral
195 William Goldsmith 1972 American musician
196 William C. Campbell 1930 Irish biochemist
197 William Lee Scott 1973 American actor
198 William Mulholland 1855 British sailor
199 William Barber II 1963 Civil rights leader from North Carolina
200 William Ruckelshaus 1932 American politician