(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.
Short forms: Will, Bill.
Pet forms: Willy, Willie, Billy.
Cognates: Irish: Uilliam. Scottish Gaelic: Uilleam. Welsh: Gwilym. German: Wilhelm. Dutch: Willem. Scandinavian: Vilhelm. French: Guillaume. Spanish: Guilermo. Catalan: Guillem. Portuguese: Guilherme. Italian: Guglielmo. Czech: Vilém. Slovenian: Viljem. Hungarian: Vilmos. Lithuanian: Vilhelmas. Latvian: Vilhelms.
English (chiefly Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the Midlands) and Scottish: occupational name for a weaver, early Middle English webber, agent derivative of Webb.
FOREBEARS The name Webster was brought to North America from England independently by several different bearers in the 17th and 18th centuries. One John Webster settled in Ipswich, MA, in 1635; another John Webster (d. 1661), ancestor of the lexicographer Noah Webster, emigrated to Cambridge, MA, in about 1631 and later became one of the founders of the colony of CT, of which he was appointed governor in 1656.Daniel Webster (1782–1852), politician and orator, was born in Salisbury, NH, a descendant of Thomas Webster, a prominent 17th-century citizen of Ipswich, MA, whose family had settled there around 1635, while he was still a child.
