Willman
Usually an old English name meaning “beloved man,” though some later writers also explain it as “man of will” or treat it as a surname from a personal name.
The #7,995 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 74,630 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The strongest historical explanation connects Willman with Old English elements meaning “beloved” or “desirable” plus “man,” giving the sense “beloved man.” One 20th-century source also records a related Old English personal name, Wilman, built from the same first element. Later surname writers sometimes reinterpreted the name as “will-man,” that is, a man of determination, but that looks more like a folk etymology than the older origin.
History
The name is found in medieval English records, including forms such as Willeman in the 14th century. It appears in several later English surname dictionaries and also survives in variant forms like Wileman and Willeman. The spelling Willman seems to have remained relatively uncommon but persistent in England and later in North America.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some 19th-century writers liked to read Willman as a flattering nickname meaning “a man of will,” but the older linguistic evidence points more toward “beloved man.”
From the historical record
“AddmWylis.— York.<! Poll-Tax, A.D. 1379. WILLMAN (Eng.) tlie A.-Sax. Wilman = Beloved Man [f. O.K.willa, will, pleasure, thing desired or beloved, -f- man{n: cp. O.E. wil{l}f(kmne, beloved maid] WILLMENT for Willmond, q.v. WILLIVIER l(Teut. ) Belovedly Famous”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)