William Langford

(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: habitational name from any of the numerous places named in Old English as ‘long ford’, from lang, long ‘long’ + ford ‘ford’, except for Langford in Nottinghamshire, which is named with an Old English personal name Landa or possibly land, here used in a specific sense such as ‘boundary’ or ‘district’, with the same second element.