William (English)

Where does "William" come from?

The given name William comes via Middle English 'William'[1][2] and Anglo-Norman 'Willame'[1][2] from Old High German 'Willahelm'[1]. This derives from Proto-Germanic '*Wiljahelmaz'[1], combining '*wiljô' meaning 'will'[1] (from Proto-Indo-European '*welh₁-' meaning 'to choose, wish, want'[1][7]) and '*helmaz' meaning 'helmet'[1] (from Proto-Indo-European '*ḱel-' meaning 'to cover, conceal, save'[1]).

Open questions

The Proto-Germanic root helmaz is considered probably derived from Proto-Indo-European *ḱelmos. [5]

Full etymology tree

William (English), 'A male given name from the Germanic languages popular since the Norman Conquest.'
- inherited William (Middle English), 'a male given name, equivalent to English William'
  - borrowed Willame (Anglo-Norman)
    - borrowed Willahelm (Old High German)
      - inherited *Wiljahelmaz (Proto-Germanic), 'a male given name'
        compound *wiljô (Proto-Germanic), 'will, wish, desire'
        derived *wiljaną (Proto-Germanic), 'to want'
        derived *wḗlh₁-ti (Proto-Indo-European)
        derived *welh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to choose'
        compound *helmaz (Proto-Germanic), 'helmet'
        inherited *ḱelmos (Proto-Indo-European)
        derived *ḱel- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to cover'

Ancestors

*welh₁- (Proto-Indo-European)
William (Middle English)
*Wiljahelmaz (Proto-Germanic)
*wiljô (Proto-Germanic)

Cognates and doublets

Willem (Dutch)
Guillaume (English)
Wilhelm (German)
Gulielmus (Latin)

Descendants and derived words

Uilyam (Azerbaijani)
উইলিয়াম (Bengali)
William (Cebuano)
威廉 (Chinese)
Fort William (English)
guillemot (English)
King William (English)
King William County (English)
Prince William County (English)
Prince William Sound (English)
William and Mary (English)
Williamite (English)

Related words

Sources

Updated October 2026

More words starting with W

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris