William Mansfield

(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 a place in Nottinghamshire. The early forms, from Domesday Book to the early 13th century, show the first element uniformly as Mam-, and it is therefore likely that this was a British hill-name meaning ‘breast’ (compare Manchester), with the later addition of Old English feld ‘pasture’, ‘open country’ (see Field) as the second element. The surname is now widespread throughout Midland and southern England and is also common in Ireland.