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William

Meeting one in Poland is still unusual, but the name is climbing: more boys got it last year than in most years before. Germanic at root and given to men only, it reads as "resolute protector".

William Pronunciation

William is pronounced VEELL-yahm (/ˈvilljam/).

Alive in 2025
1,735
Newborns 2025
42
National rank
#747

What William means

Where William comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

William is a Germanic name, built from two old roots: wil, meaning will or desire, and helm, meaning helmet or protection. Put together they give the sense the name still holds, a resolute protector. The German form Wilhelm keeps those roots in plain view, and the feminine Wilhelmina turns the same material toward a daughter.

The name became English through conquest. William of Normandy crossed the Channel in 1066 and won the crown at Hastings, and after that no English king could ignore it. The name spread down from the court into ordinary use, and it has stayed among the most common English names for centuries.

What does resolute protector mean to the people who answer to it? It is less a promise than a description offered at birth, strength of will set beside the instinct to shield. A Polish child might meet the name first on a class register, listed near its short local sense, silna wola and ochrona.

The roots hold. Wil and helm, will and helmet, still under every William.

How many people are named William

1 in 12303 men in Poland is named William. 1,735 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #747 among male names.

People with the name William 2019 → 2025
1,735 +777 since 2019
2020 1,022 +64
2021 1,110 +88
2022 1,218 +108
2023 1,364 +146
2024 1,519 +155
2025 1,735 +216

William's popularity over time

42 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #384 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2002.

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42 newborns with the name William in 2025
national rank #384 that year

Where William is most popular

William is most popular in Opole, 126% above the national average (8 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Silesian (+66%) and Pomeranian (+59%). It is least common in Łódź and Subcarpathian, 79% and 68% below average respectively.

More common than average Less common than average

William as a middle name

William is a first name for 1,735 men in Poland and a middle name for another 1,504, a 54/46 split, almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 191st, between Singh (1,526) and Patrick (1,494).

As a first name
1,735
As a middle name
1,504
first name 54% middle name 46%
Middle-name ranking men

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