Meaning & origin
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1881. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Wiliam through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,256
- 1,256 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1982
- 28 babies
- 2025
- 13
- #6,783 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −13%
- Easing
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 13 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 6,783 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 12.7% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 28 in 1982. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 3,993 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Wiliam’s family of names
In Welsh usage, Wiliam has a conventional equivalent in the French form Guillaume.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: across languages.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 18
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Wiliam
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Wiliam, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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