Bill - Origin and Meaning of the name

[ 1 syll. bil(l), bi-ll ] The boy name Bill is pronounced BIHL ^KEY. Bill has its origins in the Germanic language and it is used largely in English. Bill is a short form of William (English and French). Billie (pet form in English) is a variant of the name.

Bill is unusual as a baby boy name. Its usage peaked modestly in 1934 with 0.333% of baby boys being named Bill. It had a ranking of #59 then. The baby name has substantially dropped in popularity since then, and is of only very light use today. In 2008, among the family of boy names directly related to Bill, William (English and French) was the most frequently used.

Baby names that sound like Bill include Bail (English), Bal, Bale (French), Baul, Beal (English), Beale (English), Bel (Welsh), Bile (Irish), Blai (Catalan), Byll (English), Bailee (English), Baileigh (English), Bailey (English and German), Bailie (English), Baillie (English), Baily (English), Bala (Indian), Bali (Indian), Balu (Indian), and Bavol.

Details of famous persons named Bill:
Actor Bill Bixby, born 22 January 1934 - 21 November 1993, San Francisco, California.
Actor Bill Cosby, born William Henry Cosby, Jr. 12 July 1937, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Actor Bill Murray, born 21 September 1950, Wilmette, Illinois.
Business Personality Bill Gates, born William Gates III 28 October 1955, Seattle, Washington.
Cartoonist Bill Watterson, born 5 July 1958.
Comedian Bill Maher, born 20 January 1956, New York, New York.
Country Musician Bill Monroe, born William Smith Monroe 13 September 1911 - 9 September 1996, Rosine, Kentucky.
Game Show Host Bill Cullen, born 18 February 1920 - 7 July 1990, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Guitarist Bill Frisell, born 18 March 1951, Baltimore, Maryland.
Pianist Bill Evans, born 16 August 1929 - 15 September 1980, Plainfield, New Jersey.

^KEY: Pronunciation for Bill: B as in "be (B.IY)" ; IH as in "it (IH.T)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)"

Popularity Trend
for Bill
from 1900 to 2008

Variant Popularity Chart
for Bill
in 2008