William for a boy in Italy

[LubyLu2000]

I live in Italy (with Italian OH) and we are really really struggling to think of a name for DS2. I'm not overly keen on Italian boy's names - find them a bit too flowery for boys (lovely for girls though!) and funnily enough neither is OH. But getting agreement on a name is becoming almost impossible - anything I suggest I don't like with his accent and vice versa!
We're now thinking of William because it's my dad's name, he'd be absolutely thrilled and the more I think about it the more I'd love to do that. But....it wouldn't even be on a list if it wasn't for my dad and I'm not too sure on connotations of Prince William etc and how the name is seen back in the UK. We wouldn't have any problem with the whole being made fun of for Willie etc and we'd probably use either William or Will (my dad is Willie!). He'd certainly be fairly original over here but at the same time it's a name that Italian's have heard of cos of Prince William.
Sorry, that was a bit long but any thoughts?

If it is any help, I am English, living in Italy though not married to an Italian or otherwise. There is a William in my dd's school, one parent Italian. No comments from anyone at all that i'm aware of though it is a very mixed group of nationalities in this area. When I heard his name I never linked it to Prince William, just thought it was a nice name. hth

I would use it in Italy - as you say, no risk of Willy teasing over there .

Isn't there an Italian version, like Guillaume in French?

I think it's nice, classic and timeless. I've met a French teenager here called William (or WEE-LEE-AM, as they say it).

Thanks for the replies. There is an Italian version but it's a bit of a mouthful and I don't like it very much - Guglielmo. Yeah, he'll also be a Wee-lee-am in Italy! My first son is Christian so Cree-stee-an!
DelGirl - that surprises me that there's another little boy called William over here - I've never heard of anyone called that.
The more I think about it the more I'm persuading myself - here's hoping OH doesn't change his mind now!

Hi, I'm English and live in Italy too and I know of a William (in his thirties), no English background as far as I know. It does get pronounced Weel-yam but that's going to happen with any English name.
And I don't associate it with Prince William - it's a classic name in its own right as has been said above.

I know, every name is going to be Italianised but some just sound worse than others! And I make some Italian names sound worse than others. My favourite ever is when they're talking about the royal family and call her Camilla Parker Bowels - cracks me up every time. I like that there are a couple of William's around though - not totally unusual or very common.

Hmm, William is slowly worming its way into my brain!!