"Bill" (was re:Cauldrons & Bill Weasley)

[Susan Atherton]

No: HPFGUIDX 50966

Steve <bboy> wrote:
> How common is it for someone to be called 'Bill' in the UK? In the 
US,
> Bill is frequently short for William. But I notice that Prince 
William
> is called Will, while Prince Henry is called Harry.
> 
> So again, I'm wondering how common the nickname 'Bill' is in the UK.
> If it is somewhat common that would lead us to think that Bill's 
name
> is Williamm. If it is very uncommon then we could conclude that Bill
> had an unusual name that lent itself well to the nickname Bill.
> 
> Do we have a resident authority who could help us out here?

And Gulplum replied:
"Bill" is definitely more common than "Will", at least in the general 
population (the Royal Family is every so slightly a case apart; 
Prince Will is a moniker he was given by the press as soon as he was 
born; they quite possibly thought that "Bill" sounded a bit too 
common). 

"Will" is probably less prevalent as an abbreviation for William in 
the UK than it is in the US. For every Bill Clinton, there's a Will 
Smith; for every Bill Paxman there's a Will Shatner (though 
admittedly only his friends call him that; ordinary mortals call him 
William). 

I'm trying to think of famous British Williams who go by "Will" of 
their own choice, and to be perfectly honest the only one I can think 
of right now is Will Young. I can think of lots of Bills, though: 
Bill Ashton and Bill Treacher, for starters. And slightly 
facetiously, The (Old) Bill. :-)

Yes, I'm aware that people outside the UK won't have heard of any of 
them, and I suspect are wondering what The Old Bill means. :-)

Me:
I've always heard Prince William's nickname as Wills, not Will. Small difference, but a mere mortal would *never* have their name abbreviated to Wills, because it is connected with Prince William and he alone in people's minds. However, as you say, GulPlum, Wills is a moniker from the press, rather than his family - I'd imagine Charles probably always calls him "son" (he strikes you as the type, doesn't he? :) ) and the Queen calls him William. In speeches I've heard her made, she calls him William, but calls Henry "Harry" so I'd imagine that those are the names they receive at home.

Now, as for the rest of us plebs! It's funny you should say "Bill" is more common here than "Will" - personally I would have said it was the other way around. But I think your examples (Bill Treacher vs. Will Young) explain why. William was a very common name about a hundred years ago, but has decreased in popularity slowly, coming to a low in about the seventies-ish, I'd say. So today, a lot of the Williams you meet are 50+ (or so has been my association) and they receive the old-fashioned nickname of "Bill", particularly in my area (I'm an 18yr old girl from Lancashire - that's the northern bit, I sound like Neville does in the movie :) ). However, I'd say I know about five or six lads my own age called William, and all their names are abbreviated to "Will". Why? Because Will Young, Will Smith, etc are all young role models. "Will" is now the stylish abbreviation - you'd NEVER catch a boy my age who used "Bill", any more than you'd catch a woman in her fifties using the abbreviation "Caz" for "Caroline". OK, that's a bad example, but I can't think of any other names - it's way too early to engage my brain ~g~

And as for the Old Bill - where the hell did that name even come from anyway? LOL! (It means the police, for those of you currently scratching your heads!)

Susan
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