MEANING & CONTEXT
What does William mean?
William combines the Germanic elements for will or desire and a helmet, an image of protection. French forms carried the name into English, from which it spread more widely in Indian naming.
Spellings in Indian scripts
Devanagari
विलियम
Conventional spelling
HISTORICAL VOTER RECORDS
William in Indian usage
2,400 historical electoral-roll records, chiefly adults, rather than current baby-name rankings.
The available aggregate sex counts are withheld or incomplete.
By birth decade
| Birth decade | Records |
|---|---|
| 1950s | 339 |
| 1960s | 467 |
| 1970s | 490 |
| 1980s | 517 |
| 1990s | 391 |
| Other decades | 196 |
By state or territory
| State / territory | Records |
|---|---|
| Kerala | 732 |
| Meghalaya | 426 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 344 |
| Goa | 272 |
| Manipur | 133 |
| Delhi | 122 |
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 116 |
| Other states | 255 |
How to read these numbers
Small counts and a second count where needed are withheld for privacy; an omitted value is not zero. Coverage, dates and suppression.
Recorded abroad
Official births registered in 2025, for the exact spelling shown.
| Jurisdiction | Spelling / recorded sex | Births | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| England & Wales | William / M | 1,456 | 25 |
| Scotland | William / M | 80 | 52 |
ONS and National Records of Scotland; Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3. Counts follow each office’s publication rules.
Explore related lists
Sources
- Given-name entry (Wikidata): William ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Given-name spelling
- Historical Indian voter-record totals, v3 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Historical usage; CC0 1.0; birth years 1910–2001
- England & Wales 2025 birth statistics: Exact spelling William; Table_6, C30 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Exact spelling William; Table_6, C30
- Scotland 2025 birth statistics: Exact spelling William; full-list-1974-2025.csv; 2025 Boy ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Exact spelling William; full-list-1974-2025.csv; 2025 Boy