List of Famous people named William

William Ruthven, 2nd Lord Ruthven was a Scottish nobleman. He served as an Extraordinary Lord of Session and Keeper of the Privy Seal.

William Henry Smith, FRS was an English bookseller and newsagent of the family firm W H Smith, who expanded the firm and introduced the practice of selling books and newspapers at railway stations. He was elected a Member of Parliament in 1868 and rose to the position of First Lord of the Admiralty less than ten years thereafter. Because of his lack of naval experience, he was perceived as a model for the character Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore. In the mid-1880s, he was twice Secretary of State for War, and later First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House of Commons, among other posts.

William Arthur was an Irish-born American Baptist minister and abolitionist. He was the father of the twenty-first president of the United States, Chester A. Arthur.

William III Taillefer was the Count of Toulouse, Albi, and Quercy from 972 or 978 to his death. He was the first of the Toulousain branch of his family to bear the title marchio, which he inherited from Raymond II of Rouergue.