William
/ˈwɪl.i.əm/noun
William is spelled W-I-L-L-I-A-M: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 76 times per million words in written English, the 1,394th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, William means “radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter W” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in William?
| Letters | 7: W-I-L-L-I-A-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 76 times per million words; the 1,394th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is William?
William appears 76 times per million words in written English, the 1,394th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce William?
- /ˈwɪl.i.əm/
- /ˈwɪl.jəm/
William has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-William.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of William
- Wm.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does William mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter W.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does William come from?
From Middle English William, from Anglo-Norman Willame, from Old High German Willahelm, from Proto-Germanic *Wiljahelmaz (> Latin Gulielmus), from Proto-Germanic *wiljô (“will”) + *helmaz (“helmet”), ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European roots *welh₁- (“to choose, wish, want”) and *ḱel- (“to cover, conceal, save”) respectively. Cognate with Dutch Willem, German Wilhelm, etc.; cognate borrowings outside of Germanic include Guillaume and Guillermo.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).