This name hath been most common in England since King William the Conquerour, insomuch that upon a festival day in the Court of King Henry the Second, when Sir William Saint-John, and Sir William Fitz-Hamon, especial Officers, had commanded that none but of the name of William should dine in the great Chamber with them, they were accompanied with a hundred and twenty Williams.
1605, William Camden, Remains Concerning Britain, John Russell Smith, published 1870, page 98