William Wharton

(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 various places called Wharton. Examples in Cheshire and Herefordshire are from an Old English river name Wæfer (derived from wæfre ‘wandering’, ‘winding’) + Old English tūn ‘settlement’; another in Lincolnshire has as its first element Old English wearde ‘beacon’ or waroð ‘shore’, ‘bank’; one in the former county of Westmorland (now part of Cumbria) is from Old English hwearf ‘wharf’, ‘embankment’ + tūn.