William
Masculine · “will”
William is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 4,199,696 boys against 16,029 girls since 1880. See William as a girl name
William crossed the Channel with the Normans and never left English; nine centuries later it is still being handed to newborns. It has carried a playwright of Stratford, an Irish poet, American presidents and novelists, and it shortens in half a dozen directions — Will, Bill, Billy, Liam. Three syllables that most English speakers can spell on first hearing.
How old is the name William?
William was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical William alive today was born around 1951, making them about 74 years old. About 2,248,000 people named William are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name William most popular?
William peaked in 1880, reaching #2 nationally. Today it ranks #9, 7 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.
William appears on these lists:
- Beloved classics quietly disappearing
- Names that never go out of style
- Transatlantic hits: loved on both sides of the ocean
- America's top 100 names right now
- The top-10 club: every name that made it
- Victorian names ready for a second century
- all guides
Works in British families too:
Where it comes from
From Willahelm to William
The story of William
The name begins in continental Germanic as Willahelm and spread widely in Frankish and Old High German territory as Wilhelm. The Normans carried their own form of it into England in the eleventh century, where William the Conqueror's victory in 1066 made it instantly fashionable among the Anglo-Norman ruling class; within a few generations it was among the commonest men's names in England. From there it traveled with English speakers everywhere they went, while the continental lines kept their own shapes: Guillaume in France, Guillermo in Spain, Willem in the Low Countries. Irish Gaelic borrowed it as Uilliam, whose short form Liam has since become a given name in its own right.
Meaning
will, desire + helmet, protection
From the Germanic elements wil (will, resolve) and helm (helmet, protection) — often glossed together as "resolute protector".
Cultural footprint
William Shakespeare (b. 1564) — The most famous writer who ever lived
William Blake (b. 1757) — Visionary poet and artist
William Butler Yeats (b. 1865) — Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet
William Faulkner (b. 1897) — Nobel laureate of Southern literature
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Willahelm
- Wilhelm
- Willelm
- William
Related forms: Wilhelm · Guillaume · Guillermo · Guglielmo · Willem · Liam
Pronouncing William
WIL-yum
Stress on the first syllable. Two syllables in ordinary speech, sometimes drawn out to three (WIL-ee-um) in careful or formal delivery.
Nicknames for William
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 195162,781 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2reached in 1880
- Change vs 2022
- −7.1%10,545 in 2025, from 11,356
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
William in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Wilhelm in German — same name
- Guillaume in French — same name
- Guillermo in Spanish — same name
- Guglielmo in Italian — same name
- Willem in Dutch — same name
- Liam in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida. International figures from Statistics Canada, Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland. Sources
Williams among us
people named William are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 162 born in 2025 was named William
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
William has held the top-100 across 15 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where William is headed
William should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
William beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to William in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled and pronounced correctly on first hearing by virtually every English speaker, with no competing variant spellings to explain.
- An unbroken record in English since the eleventh century, and still given to babies now — long past the point where a name can date a person.
- Unusually rich in short forms: Will, Bill, Billy, Willie, Wills, each with real historical use, so the bearer has room to choose.
- Charts in Canada, England and Wales, and Scotland as well as the US, and has a ready equivalent in German, French, Spanish, Italian and Dutch.
- It is genuinely common and always has been. Expect other Williams in the classroom, the workplace and quite possibly the extended family.
- You cannot fully control which short form sticks. Coaches, cousins and classmates may land on Bill, Billy or Willie regardless of what you use at home.
- Because it is so well established among older generations, many Williams alive today are grandfathers and great-grandfathers — lovely if you want that continuity, worth knowing if you don't.
- Liam is now so firmly a name of its own that few people will connect the two; naming a son William will not read as naming him Liam.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put William to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
William
Masculine · #9 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Williams are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,248,000 people named William are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name William in 2025?
- William ranks #9 among US boy names in 2025, with 10,545 babies given the name.
- How common is the name William?
- About 1 in every 162 US boys born in 2025 was named William — 10,545 in all.
- Will my child share the name William with classmates?
- Roughly 1 in 6 classrooms will have a child named William.
Ranked beside William
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Mateo#8 · Lucas#10 · Elijah#7 · Benjamin#11 · James#6 · Levi#12 · Henry#5 · Elias#13
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles William? See the current top 100.
Choosing between William and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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