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Meaning of the nameWilliam

William is a male name of Germanic origin, taken from English, that joins the elements for 'will' and 'helmet'.

Meaning

“will and helmet (from *wiljô, 'will', and *helmaz, 'helmet')”

Source: Wiktionary: William · Behind the Name: William

People (2022)
95,539
Rank in Brazil
#330
Median age
29 years
2010 Census
61,528
people

William in the 2022 Census

People with the first name William, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1990s (31,377 people).

496 women 95,043 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name William is most common

States with the highest share of people named William in the population, in the 2022 Census.

  1. Rio Grande do Sul 0.079%
  2. Distrito Federal 0.064%
  3. São Paulo 0.060%
  4. Rio de Janeiro 0.056%
  5. Amazonas 0.055%
All states
StatePeople% of population
São Paulo26,5700.060%
Rio de Janeiro8,9840.056%
Minas Gerais8,6920.042%
Rio Grande do Sul8,5640.079%
Paraná5,2920.046%
Bahia4,9340.035%
Santa Catarina4,1670.055%
Pernambuco3,4120.038%
Pará3,2640.040%
Goiás2,4290.034%
Maranhão2,3960.035%
Ceará2,3000.026%
Amazonas2,1790.055%
Distrito Federal1,7880.064%
Paraíba1,3500.034%
Espírito Santo1,2270.032%
Alagoas1,1410.037%
Mato Grosso1,0500.029%
Rio Grande do Norte1,0330.031%
Sergipe1,0260.046%
Piauí1,0020.031%
Mato Grosso do Sul9850.036%
Rondônia4650.029%
Tocantins4380.029%
Amapá3660.050%
Roraima2860.045%
Acre1990.024%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name William

William comes from Middle English William, through Anglo-Norman Willame, from a Germanic name that goes back to Proto-Germanic *Wiljahelmaz. The name joins *wiljô, 'will', with *helmaz, 'helmet'. In Portuguese it is an unadapted borrowing from English and forms a doublet with Guilherme. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 95,539 people named William, almost always men, with a median age of 29. Proportionally, it is most common in Rio Grande do Sul, and Wiktionary lists Uiliam and Willian among the alternative forms of the name in Portuguese.

This is the original English spelling and the most common one in the group.

Other spellings of William

SpellingPeople (2022)
William95,539
Wiliam20,325
Uiliam985

Sources

  1. Wiktionary: William · en.wiktionary.org · meaning
  2. Behind the Name: William · behindthename.com · meaning
  3. Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Uilian · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · spelling

Questions about the name William

What does the name William mean?

William means “will and helmet (from *wiljô, 'will', and *helmaz, 'helmet')”, according to Wiktionary and Behind the Name.

How many people are named William in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 95,539 people with the first name William, which ranks it number 330 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1990s.

Is William a boy's or a girl's name?

William is a male name: in the 2022 Census, 496 women and 95,043 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name William?

William is a name of Germanic origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is William most common?

Proportionally, in Rio Grande do Sul: 0.079% of the state's population is named William (8,564 people), according to the 2022 Census.

What are the other spellings of William?

Wiliam and Uiliam. IBGE counts each spelling separately.

More names of Germanic origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for William with a source. See the methodology.