William Turpin

(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 and French: from an Anglo-Norman French form of the Old Norse personal name þórfinnr, composed of the elements þórr, the name of the god of thunder in Scandinavian mythology (see Thor) + the ethnic name Finnr ‘Finn’. This may have absorbed another name, Turpius, Turpinus (from Latin turpis ‘ugly’, ‘base’), one of the self-abasing names adopted as a mark of humility by the early Christians. It was borne by the archbishop of Rheims in the Charlemagne legend.