#1

William Shakespeare
English playwright and poet (1564–1616)
Top 500 #447
Initials WS #2
Romeo and Juliet#7

William Wallace
Scottish knight and leading figure in the First War of Scottish Independence
Initials WW #4#14

William S. Burroughs
American novelist | short story writer | essayist | painter | and spoken word performer (1914–1997)
Initials WB #6
Naked Lunch#21

William Blake
English poet and artist (1757–1827)
Initials WB #10
And did those feet in ancient time#22

William F. Buckley Jr.
American public intellectual | conservative author and political commentator (1925–2008)
Initials WJ #4#29

William Calley
American army officer convicted for leading massacre at My Lai | Vietnam (1943–2024)
Initials WC #9#46

William Somerset Maugham
English playwright and author (1874–1965)
Initials WM #23
Of Human Bondage#49

William Poole
American boxer and a founder of the street gang the Bowery Boys (1821–1855)
Initials WP #8#56

William Gibson
American-Canadian speculative fiction novelist and founder of the cyberpunk subgenre
Initials WG #12
Neuromancer#60

William Penn
English real estate entrepreneur | philosopher | early Quaker and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania (1644-1718)
Initials WP #10#75

William Luther Pierce
American white supremacist and neo-Nazi (1933–2002)
Initials WP #13
The Turner Diaries#79

William Kidd
Scottish sailor who was tried and executed for piracy after returning from a voyage to the Indian Ocean
Initials WK #10#82
William Conrad
American World War II fighter pilot | actor | producer | and director (1920-1994)
Initials WC #20#83

William Bligh
officer of the British Royal Navy and colonial administrator (1754-1817)
Initials WB #26#89

William III of the Netherlands
King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg (1817–1890)
Initials WN #6#96

William I of the Netherlands
King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg 1815–1840
Initials WN #8#102
William of Ockham
English medieval Franciscan friar and scholastic philosopher and theologian
Initials WO #6#115
William Francis Buckley
United States Army officer and the CIA station chief in Beirut
Initials WB #38#116
William Backhouse Astor, Jr.
American businessman | yachtsman | and racehorse owner/breeder
Initials WJ #20#122
William Golding
British novelist | poet | playwright and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate
Initials WG #19
Lord of the Flies#125
William Moulton Marston
American psychologist | lawyer | inventor and comic book writer
Initials WM #40#132
William D. Leahy
United States admiral | ambassador to France | Chief of Staff (1875-1959)
Initials WL #6#138
William Clark
American explorer | soldier | Indian agent | and territorial governor
Initials WC #35#141
William J. Donovan
United States Army General | Medal of Honor recipient | and civil servant
Initials WD #17#163
William L. Shirer
American journalist (1904–1993)
Initials WS #59
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich#167
William Hogarth
English painter | printmaker | pictorial satirist | social critic | and editorial cartoonist
Initials WH #44#181
William Peter Blatty
American writer and filmmaker (1928-2017)
Initials WB #61
The Exorcist
The Exorcist#199
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe
British General in the American War of Independence
Initials WH #49