There was Wililam the conquerer. After he invaded England William became a popular fore name among the Anglo-Saxons and Welsh. When it became usual for poorer people to take surnames, they might be named after the most common name of their male ancestors -- hence Williams as a surname, especially among the Welsh.
William as a forename came from German (Wilhelm, Wilhem, etc.). And then it became a surname for German (and French) families where Wilhem (or the French equivalent, Guilhome) had been a frequent first name; surnames for the common people really came into being in the late medieval times (1200s-1400s).
In general folk lore history, "William" (Wihelm) meant protector, valiant, hero, determined, resolute in old German. So as a surname, in practice, you could consider "Williams" to mean "Famly of heros".
William as a forename came from German (Wilhelm, Wilhem, etc.). And then it became a surname for German (and French) families where Wilhem (or the French equivalent, Guilhome) had been a frequent first name; surnames for the common people really came into being in the late medieval times (1200s-1400s).
In general folk lore history, "William" (Wihelm) meant protector, valiant, hero, determined, resolute in old German. So as a surname, in practice, you could consider "Williams" to mean "Famly of heros".
