When Willem Van Den Boetzelaer was born about 1426, in Rhineland, Prussia, his father, Rutger Van Den Boetzelaer, was 47 and his mother, Hildegard van Middachten, was 38. He had at least 3 sons and 1 daughter with Eva Paep. He died about 1496, at the age of 72.
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Probably the most successful of all the Old French names of Germanic origin that were introduced to England by the Normans. It is derived from Germanic wil ‘will, desire’ + helm ‘helmet, protection’. The fact that it was borne by the Conqueror himself does not seem to have inhibited its favour with the ‘conquered’ population: in the first century after the Conquest it was the commonest male name of all, and not only among the Normans. In the later Middle Ages it was overtaken by John , but continued to run second to that name until the 20th century, when the picture became more fragmented.
Dictionary of First Names © Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges 1990, 2003, 2006.
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