Williams
Meaning
surname meaning 'son of William'
Williams around the world
One shared root links 12 names across 3 languages.
Shared root: from Germanic Willahelm, wil "will, desire" + helm "helmet, protection"
The constellation
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Williams peaked in the 2000s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
3,497 people · the #3,502 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 58,824 · median age 33
Among people named Williams living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 69 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
The Williams deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Williams truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Williams fits with your family’s names and surname.
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