William

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled ויליאם in FR France, IL Israel and וילהלם in PL Poland.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 6 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

William is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name5.1M records spelled William16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Cuba, Peru

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian

  Also written Wïllïäm, Williám, Wîllîâm, W'Illiam, Williäm

• a separate given name1.0M records spelled William2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, India, Canada

  Also written Wílliam

• French given name750K records spelled William97 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Spain, Belgium

  Languages: French, Spanish, Catalan

  Also written Guillaume, Guillem, Guillaumé, Wïllïam, Guìllaume

• Polish given name182K records spelled William65 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Russian

  Also written Viliam, Вильям, Вільям, Уильям, Vilijam

• Hindi given name156K records spelled William14 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, India, Canada

  Languages: Hindi, Sinhala, Urdu

  Also written উইলিয়াম, Uiliyam, Williäm, Will̶i̶am, Wïllíãm

• Indonesian given name93K records spelled William10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, Malaysia, Philippines

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay, Malagasy

  Also written 'William, Williàm, Wîllíãm, Wìllìam, Williäm

• Finnish given name73K records spelled William7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Hungary, United States, United Kingdom

  Languages: Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian

  Also written Wįllįąm, Wïllïãm, Wîllîâm, Wïlliam

121 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

William is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, Germanic ‘will helmet’; widely used by the Normans in medieval Ireland and still popular.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In French, English form of Wilhelm, from Germanic wil ‘will’ + helm ‘protection’.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In English, from Norman French Guillaume, from Old Germanic Willihelm; first attested Robertus filius Willelmi 1086 DB

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In English, Old English; "a strong resolute protector"

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• In English, radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter W.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• William II of Englandb. 1060GBKing of England from 1087 to 1100
• William Henry Harrisonb. 1773USpresident of the United States in 1841 (1773-1841)
• Wilhelm Steinitzb. 1836USnot in their usual nameAustrian-American chess player (1836–1900)
• Francis William Astonb. 1877GBBritish chemist (1877-1945)
• Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucesterb. 1900GBnot in their usual nameBritish soldier (1900–1974), Governor-General of Australia from 1945 to 1947
• Bill Clintonb. 1946USnot in their usual namePresident of the United States from 1993 to 2001 (born 1946)
• William Hurtb. 1950USAmerican actor (1950–2022)
• Kiefer Sutherlandb. 1966GBnot in their usual nameBritish-Canadian actor (born 1966)
• Bill Goldbergb. 1966USnot in their usual nameAmerican professional wrestler and football player (born 1966)
• Joe Lockeb. 2003IMnot in their usual nameManx actor

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 2,393 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name William?

We estimate roughly 2.5 million people bear William (counting its spellings and scripts) across 13 countries in our records.

In which country does William have the most bearers?

We estimate about 2.2 million people bear William in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled william.

How common is William compared with other names?

In the United States, William is the 10th most common given name of 3,122,706 given names recorded there.

Is William a male or female name?

William is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name William mean?

Recorded meaning: From the male personal name William, introduced by the Normans and ultimately Germanic, literally ‘will-helmet’.