Talk:William (given name)

Bill

Is there a reason for abbreviating the name william to Bill or Robert to Bob ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.30.122.148 (talk • contribs) 03:46, 21 November 2005

Yes, I think the article should answer this question, but I don't know the answer either (I came here to ask). - furrykef (Talk at me) 18:48, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

It's probably from young children's speech. 'b' is easier to pronounce than 'w' or 'r'. Chl 20:09, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

I'm also curious about this, that's why I looked up this article —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.241.122.107 (talk) 03:48, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

An article on odd nicknmes like Bill for William, Dick for Richard and Bob for Robert would be interesting. Any other common ones? How the heck did they come to be? Especially Dick, which is so completely different, not just taking the first three or four letters and changing the first letter.Bizzybody (talk) 01:40, 15 November 2012 (UTC)

Cox

"During the Middle Ages the word "cock" was used to describe a self-assured young man (taken after the image of a strutting self-assured rooster). As a result this nickname was applied to a number of names, including William which is where the name Wilcox comes from."

This sounds like hearsay and has little basis at all. It is also totally irrelevant. And isn't more likely that Wilcox comes from an amalgamation of the names William and Cox? The history of Wilkin is also irrelevant. - 08/08/2006 — Preceding unsigned comment added by ULoXer (talk • contribs) 15:26, 8 August 2006

It is accurate. See England under the Norman and Angevin Kings, Bertlett. -- Stbalbach 23:27, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Polish variant

I removed the Polish variant because it's not really a Polish variant but just the German variant used in Poland. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.163.201.250 (talk • contribs) 20:52, 5 June 2007

Belgian name?

Why is 'Guildhelm' referred to as a 'Belgian name'? Belgium is a country with three, clearly distinct, official languages (Dutch, French, and German) and only came into being as a sovereign state in the nineteenth century - after centuries of Habsburg, Austrian, French, and, finally, Dutch rule.

Note, furthermore, that running the name 'Guildhelm' through Google using the 'site:be' command does not produce a single hit. 'Guilhelm' does (84 hits).

I suspect that Guildhelm is simply a variant of French 'Guillaume'. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr. Swiveller (talk • contribs) 21:43, 2 August 2007

Right, and if it isn't, then this information has nothing to do with the article. I'll remove it. Chl (talk) 19:14, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

Actually , Guillaume is the French version of William. And Guilhelm is probarly Flemish , as French doesn't really use the 'h' sound (Hôtel is actually spoken as 'ôtel,withut the h.), and Flemish 'ui' becomes 'eu' in German (Flemish 'uil' = German 'eul'). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.164.101.222 (talk) 14:27, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Wm?

'It is sometimes abbreviated as Wm'.

What is meant here? The name 'Wim' does exist, although I believe it is more popular in Dutch-speaking countries (Netherlands, Belgium, Surinam, and the Dutch Antilles) than in German-speaking countries. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.204.25.215 (talk • contribs) 07:41, 3 August 2007

The abbreviation is "Wm", not "Wim", and is a common abbreviation (though rather old-fashioned) for "William" in English-speaking countries, as "Chas." is for Charles. --Saforrest 04:45, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

'Origin' - linguistically flawed

I think it unlikely that 'William' was borrowed into Norman French from Old (High) German. More likely it is derived from Frankish, as is indeed suggested by the article on 'Guillaume' in the French version of Wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.204.25.215 (talk • contribs) 07:53, 3 August 2007

Italics?

In the first paragraph, why are Bill and Billy in italics but "Will" and "Willy" not in italics but in quotation marks? Shouldn't all four be presented the same way? ☺Coppertwig (talk) 23:29, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

First Williams

"The following historic "first" Williams are of national historic importance.

• King William I of England (1027-1087); William the Conqueror, William the Bastard; Norman Conquest of England.
• King William I of Scotland (1142-1214); William the Lion; Scottish royal standard bears his symbol.
• Prince William I of Orange (1533-1584); William the Silent, "Father of the fatherland"; Eighty Years' War leads to Dutch independence.
• King William III of England (William I of Ireland) (1650-1702); William III of Orange; Williamite war in Ireland (amongst Protestants).
• William I, King of Prussia, German Emperor (1871-1888); Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; first leader of a truly unified Germany of the modern era, as Kaiser of the German Empire."

I've removed this section as it is essentially trivia. Second, third etc. Williams may also be of national historic importance, so should we create sections for them? I hope not. --Eleassar ^{my talk} 13:31, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Catholic name?

In the article, it suggests that William is a Catholic name. How is that? It seems to be of Germanic origin and not necessarily related to religion. The other thing I was wondering was that if the name is Germanic, how come there is a Latin equivalent? Was it borrowed into Latin?

Thanks. 76.193.219.198 (talk) 03:25, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Name varient / name transliteration

I would propose that the Chinese, Japanese, Korean and possibly Mouri (maybe others) should be removed from the Name variation list due to their not being name variations, but merely transliterations of the English name into their respective languages. I'm not that much of an expert, but I doubt that any of them are natural names, or that if they are, that they have been derived from the name rather than just being the way a foreigner to those countries would spell it there. The Japanese I am certain about and will delete now.

They could be put elsewhere on the page, but where they are now is misleading. LINK3 (talk) 00:29, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

little boys

the right side window says something about a name variant meaning that they like to touch little boys204.11.6.125 (talk) 17:59, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, I've fixed it. It's pretty sad that that vandalism survived for so long. —Soap— 18:02, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

Just a note - don't be afraid to remove vandalism if you see it, you don't need to ask permission or anything.--Brianann MacAmhlaidh (talk) 04:19, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

Redirection and Article name:

Shouldn't this article be titled "Wilhelm", since William is an adapted form? I see the title:

"William (name) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 (Redirected from Wilhelm (name))"

Since 'William' is an adapted form of the original name 'Wilhelm', should it not be rather:

"Wilhelm(name) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 (Redirected from William(name))"

(Bold emphasis mine)

 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.183.92.40 (talk) 01:05, 1 December 2012 (UTC) 

Name varients

It is also called 威廉姆 （wēilíanmǔ） in Chinese. -- Annonymus user (talk) 08:09, 13 October 2014 (UTC)