Why do we call people Bill who are William?

Question

I know my spelling is bad but it's not that bad. THERE IS NO B IN WILLIAM. I know it rhymes but my name marc rhymes with a r s e and nobody abbreviates my name to that, except for me.

Answer 1

It is all to do with the pronunciation. William is originally a German name.

Answer 2

Back in the middle ages when keeping records was a slow hand written process. Writers used commonly accepted abbreviations to speed things up. William became Will, Robert=Rob, Richard=Ric etc. Much as we use today in our instant messaging world.
Also at this time, rhyming ones name was the most common form of giving one a nickname. It was considered humorous.
Instead of calling William a descriptive nickname like we might be more likely to use today such as Stinky, Skinny or Baldy. He would have been called Billiam or Hilliam.
So, instead of abbreviating William, the medieval writer found himself abbreviating what he was more commonly known as, and his nickname of Billiam became Bill. Since this was a common usage it has stuck to this very day.

Answer 3

Yeah ? Would you believe that William is translated in French in a totally different name ? William becomes Guillaume. Very Strange, eh ! Other names are usually pretty straightforwards, like John= Jean, Peter+ Pierre, and so on.

Answer 4

Possibly because a B sound is easier to make than a W sound

Answer 5

I starred your question because I "dunno" and now I am curious too.
EDIT*
I found this:
Short form of WILLIAM, arising in the 19th century. The change in the initial consonant may have been influenced by an earlier Irish pronunciation of the name

Answer 6

Its because of the Irish pronunciation.

Answer 7

I don't know but, the one that confuses me is why Richards are considered Dicks. : P

Answer 8

The same way we call Robert, Bob!!!

Answer 9

Why do we call someone named John--Jack?