my ears are burning.

I became Willie-O specifically when I joined Mudcat, cause there were too many "Bill Initial"s here already. Had a nice folkie ring to it I thought, plus although I'm harmless I do have a morbid side.

I think that William has always been a common surname, and its various nicknames go in and out of fashion. I've been Bill all my life--and obviously so have most of my contemporary Williams. Can't abide being called William, but a few actually go by that name in everyday usage. (The only people who call me Willie are Mudcatters who met me online--Rick Fielding used to do this in conversation, which puzzled my non-Mudcat friends) My daughter at university tells me her generation has Williams but not Bills--they're generally Wills.

Willy, though, would have been a perfectly common 19th century name in the US or Canada--more so than Gaelic or Welsh variants of William.