William has been the name of many famous and influential people throughout man’s brief history here on planet earth.

To name a few “off the cuff”, we have:

William Boyd, Hopalong Cassidy
William Boyd, 3rd Earl of Kilmarnock
William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock
William Boyd, the writer
William Boyd, western musician
William Boyd, the US immunologist
William Boyd (Colonel), United States Army Air Forces
William Boyd, actor

These are just a few, we can add to that right now, with the author of this article, William Boyd, Internet Marketing Professional.

Now, if we consider the name William, on its own, and it’s abbreviation, we open up to even more, highly recognized individuals, and they all seem to have an uncanny similarity in their goals, achievements, and values!

William Wallace, Scottish legendary hero
Will Smith, actor
William Shakespeare, poet
William Windsor, the Goat! (See my blog for that one)
William Windsor, Prince William
Over 36 Kings and Noblemen in the last few hundred years

Why is that? Is it because the name William has some magical power to determine how individuals act, react, and behave? Or is it because we all become what everyone else expects us to be, based on the achievements of previous Williams?
Or could it be that the name William really is a naturally auspicious name?

I have dedicated a whole website to the name William, and its many variations such as: Bill, Billy, Will, Willy, Wilhelm,

When I look at the meaning of the name ‘William’ I am truly amazed at closely its definition accurately describes the characteristics of the well known Williams, and the not so well known.

Now, you could easily argue that the meaning of the name is derived from the characteristics of these famous people, so their roles in life are what modern people use to determine the meaning from the name William. This is an ongoing debate about the theory of nature or nurture, feel free to discuss this at length on my Blog. (link below)

What is the meaning of the name William?

Here’s one of the most common interpretations:

From the Germanic name Wilhelm, which was composed of the elements wil “will, desire” and helm “helmet, protection”.

So this can be interpreted to mean that “William” means “need protection”,
“To protect” as does a helmet

But, what about the vast number of Williams in the world today that can truly say they had no idea that their name means “to protect”? I for one didn’t know about this, until recently, and can honestly say that, protecting has always been my role in life.

Without going into a lengthy biography, I can say that 90% of my life has been protecting others.

Looking at the short list above, there appears to be another commonality with William, and that is creativity or artistic ability. Is that only because it’s the creative and artistic people that we hear about? Or is it something to do with the name William?

These are all interesting points for thought, what are yours?