William is a very powerful name.

It came from the Germanic roots Wil, meaning "will or desire", and Helm, meaning "helmet, protection." Hence a person named William is a determined protector, someone who will give up at nothing to protect what he has set out to keep safe.

The name's popularity began with the Norman conquest of England in 1066, when the duke of Normandy decided to use his intelligence and brawn to take what he felt was rightfully his. His name was William the Conqueror, and he would become the king of all England.

After William the Conqueror's success and reign his name became more and more popular. In fact, until the Reformation of the 16th century and the increase in popularity of biblical names, forms of William were the most popular names in the Anglo-Norman language.

In the United States today William may not be the No. 1 name, but at least it's still in the top 10 — though we are losing ground. In 1990, William was the fifth most popular name in the United States; in 2008 the mighty had fallen to eighth.

Even though we still have a large contingency of members, I feel it is my duty to highlight the contributions to society that strong determined men with the same powerful first name have added to the world's rich history.

I am the determined protector of the William clan. So for every William, Will, Bill, Billy, Willie, Liam, Wills, Bo, Beau, and Yum (yes, Yum is short for William, emphasizing the "iam"), I salute you, and every week from now on I will be highlighting a Will who has changed the world.

I will leave you now with three intelligent quotes from three intelligent Wills:

"Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself."
— William Faulkner, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist

"Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth, We are happy when we are growing."
— William Butler Yeats, Irish poet

"I wish I knew at 14 not to put much thought into what other people my age said to me, cause we were all looking for the answers. So I wish I knew that other people really don't know any more than you do! "
— Will Estes, American actor