William Kirkland

(male) Probably the most successful of all the Old French names of Germanic origin that were introduced to England by the Normans. It is derived from Germanic wil ‘will, desire’ + helm ‘helmet, protection’. The fact that it was borne by the Conqueror himself does not seem to have inhibited its favour with the ‘conquered’ population: in the first century after the Conquest it was the commonest male name of all, and not only among the Normans. In the later Middle Ages it was overtaken by John, but continued to run second to that name until the 20th century, when the picture became more fragmented.

English (now mainly East Midlands) and Scottish: topographic name for someone who lived on land belonging to the Church, from northern Middle English kirk ‘church’ + land ‘land’. There are several villages named with these elements, for example in Cumbria, and in some cases the surname will have arisen from these. Exceptionally, Kirkland in Lancashire has as its second element Old Norse lundr ‘grove’.