WILLIAM SPAIN

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 and Irish: 1. (of Norman origin): habitational name from Épaignes in Eure, recorded in the Latin form Hispania in the 12th century. It seems to have been so called because it was established by colonists from Spain during the Roman Empire. 2. (of Norman origin): habitational name from Espinay in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, so called from a collective of Old French espine ‘thorn bush’. 3. ethnic name for a Spaniard or, in the case of the Irish name, for someone returning from Spain (from Gaelic Spainneach ‘Spanish’); many Irish took refuge in Spain during the 17th century wars.