| Daniel Willard (1861–1942), American railway official |
| Edward Smith Willard (1853–1915), British actor |
| Emma Willard (1787–1870), American educator |
| Frances Elizabeth Willard (1839–1898), American reformer |
| Sir William Willcocks (1852–1932), British engineer |
| Orlando Bolivar Willcox (1823–1907), American soldier |
| Florent Joseph Marie Willems (1823–1905), Belgian painter |
| Jan Frans Willems (1793–1846), Flemish writer |
| Léon Adolphe Willette (1857–1926), French painter, illustrator, caricaturist and lithographer |
| Saint William, Duke of Aquitaine (755?–812), central figure of the southern cycle of French romance |
| William I. (1027 or 1028–1087), King of England, surnamed the Conqueror |
| William II. (c. 1056–1100), King of England, surnamed Rufus |
| William III. (1650–1702), King of England and Prince of Orange |
| William IV. (1765–1837), King of England |
| William the Lion (1143–1214), King of Scotland |
| William I. (1772–1843), King of the Netherlands |
| William II. (1792–1849), King of the Netherlands |
| William III. (1817–1890), King of the Netherlands |
| William (1227–1256), King of the Romans and Count of Holland |
| William I. (d. 1166), King of Sicily |
| William II. (d. 1189), King of Sicily |
| William I. (1781–1864), King of Württemberg |
| William IV. (1532–1592), Landgrave of Hesse |
| William I., Prince of Orange (1533–1584), surnamed the Silent, Prince of Orange and Count of Nassau |
| William II. (1626–1650), Prince of Orange |
| William (1882–1951), German Crown Prince |
| William the Breton (c. 1165–c. 1226), French chronicler and poet |
| William the Clito (1102–1128), ruler |
| William of Corbeil (d. 1136), Archbishop of Canterbury |
| William of Malmesbury (c. 1090–c. 1143), English historian |
| William of Nangis (d. 1300), French chronicler |
| William of Newburgh (1136–1201?), English ecclesiastic and chronicler |
| William of Ockham (c. 1285–c. 1349), English schoolman |
| William of Poitiers (c. 1020–c. 1090), Norman chronicler |
| William of St. Calais (d. 1096), Bishop of Durham and chief counsellor of William Rufus |
| William of Tyre (c. 1130–c. 1190), Archbishop of Tyre and chronicler |
| William of Valence (d. 1296), brother of Henry III. of England |
| William of Wykeham (1324–1404), English Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Winchester |
| Williams, New England Family |
| George Williams (1821–1905), founder of the Young Men’s Christian Association |
| George Henry Williams (1823–1910), American jurist |
| John Williams (1582–1650), English Archbishop and Lord Keeper |
| John Williams (1796–1839), English Nonconformist missionary |
| Jonathan Williams (1750–1815), American soldier |
| Roger Williams (1604?–1683), founder of the colony of Rhode Island in America and pioneer of religious liberty |
| Rowland Williams (1817–1870), English divine and scholar |
| Samuel Wells Williams (1812–1884), American sinologist |
| Sir William Fenwick Williams (1800–1883), British general |
| Benjamin Williamson (1827–1916), Irish mathematician |
| Hugh Williamson (1735–1819), American statesman |
| Sir Joseph Williamson (1633–1701), English politician |
| William Crawford Williamson (1816–1895), English naturalist |
| Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn (1692–1749), Welsh politician |
| Saint Willibrord (658?–739), English missionary, “the apostle of the Frisians” |
| Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806–1867), American author |
| Thomas Willis (1621–1675), English anatomist and physician |
| Samuel Williston (1795–1874), American philanthropist |
| James Tibbitts Willmore (1800–1863), English line engraver |
| Henry Willobie (1574?–1596?), supposed author of a poem called Willobie his Avisa |
| John Willock (c. 1513–1585), Scottish reformer |
| Willoughby, name of an English family |
| William Gorman Wills (1828–1891), Irish dramatist |
| Francis Willughby (1635–1672), English ornithologist and ichthyologist |
| David Wilmot (1814–1868), American political leader |
| Alexander Wilson (1766–1813), American ornithologist |
| Sir Arthur Knyvet Wilson (1842–1921), English admiral |
| Sir Charles Rivers Wilson (1831–1916), English public official |
| Daniel Wilson (1816–1892), archæologist and Canadian educational reformer |
| Sir Erasmus Wilson (1809–1884), British surgeon and philanthropist |
| Henry Wilson (1812–1875), Vice-president of the United States |
| Sir Henry Wilson (1864–1922), British Field-Marshal |
| Horace Hayman Wilson (1786–1860), English orientalist |
| Hubbard Wilson (1799–1864), American author |
| James Wilson (1742–1798), American statesman and jurist |
| James Wilson (1835–1920), American administrator |
| James Grant Wilson (1832–1914), American author |
| James Harrison Wilson (1837–1925), American cavalry soldier |
| John Wilson (1588–1667), English clergyman |
| John Wilson (1626–1696), English playwright, son of Aaron Wilson, a royalist divine |
| John Wilson (Christopher North) (1785–1854), Scottish writer |
| John Ancrum Wilson (1811–1873), American naval officer |
| John Cook Wilson (1849–1915), English philosopher |
| Josiah Wilson (c. 1628–1680), colonial Governor |
| Richard Wilson (1713–1782), English landscape painter |
| Robert Wilson (d. 1600), English actor and playwright |
| Sir Robert Wilson (1777–1849), British general |
| Thomas Wilson (c. 1526–1581), English statesman and critic |
| Thomas Wilson (1663–1755), English Bishop |
| William Lyne Wilson (1843–1900), American statesman |
| Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924), twenty-eighth President of the United States |
| Ivor Bertie Guest, Baron Wimborne (1835–1914), British politician |
| Emmanuel-Félix de Wimpffen (1811–1884), French soldier |
| Robert Winchelsey (c. 1240–1313), Archbishop of Canterbury |
| Earls and Marquesses of Winchester |
| Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–1768), German archæologist |
| Eduard Winkelmann (1838–1896), German historian |
| Sir Francis Windebank (1582–1646), English secretary of state |
| William Windham (1750–1810), English politician |
| Alfred Candid Ferdinand, Fürst zu Windisch-Grätz (1787–1862), Austrian field-marshal |
| Edward, Duke of Windsor (1894–1972), Prince of Wales |
| Ludwig Windthorst (1812–1891), German politician |
| John Winebrenner (1797–1860), American clergyman |
| Georg Benedikt Winer (1789–1858), German Protestant theologian |
| Enoch Cobb Wines (1806–1879), American philanthropist |
| Sir Francis Reginald Wingate (1861–1953), British general and administrator in the Sudan |
| Edward Maria Wingfield (c. 1560–c. 1614), English colonist in America |
| Sir Richard Wingfield (c. 1469–1525), English diplomatist |
| Arnold von Winkelried, Swiss hero |
| Edward Winslow (1595–1655), one of the founders of the Plymouth colony in America |
| Hubbard Winslow (1799–1864), American author |
| John Ancrum Winslow (1811–1873), American naval officer |
| Josiah Winslow (c. 1629–1680), colonial Governor |
| Justin Winsor (1831–1897), American writer and librarian |
| Jan Willem de Winter (1761–1812), Dutch admiral |
| John Strange Winter (1856–1911), English novelist |
| Peter von Winter (1754–1825), German dramatic composer |
| William Winter (1836–1917), American poet and dramatic critic |
| Hans Karl von Winterfeldt (1707–1757), Prussian general |
| Christian Winther (1796–1876), Danish lyrical poet |
| John Winthrop (1588–1649), Puritan leader and governor of Massachusetts |
| John Winthrop (1606–1676), colonial Governor |
| Robert Charles Winthrop (1809–1894), American orator and statesman |
| Theodore Winthrop (1828–1861), American soldier, poet, and novelist |
| Sir Ralph Winwood (c. 1563–1617), English politician |
| Ninian Winzet (1518–1592), Scottish polemical writer |
| William Wirt (1772–1834), author and advocate |
| Joseph Wirth (1879–1956), German statesman, fourth chancellor of the post-war republican Reich |
| Henry Augustus Wise (1819–1869), American naval officer and author |
| Isaac Mayer Wise (1819–1900), American Jewish theologian |
| John Wise (1652–1725), Puritan author |
| Nicholas Patrick Wiseman (1802–1865), English Cardinal |
| George Wishart (c. 1513–1546), Scottish reformer |
| Owen Wister (1860–1938), American writer |
| George Wither (1588–1667), English poet and satirist |
| John Witherspoon (1723–1794), Scottish-American divine and educationalist |
| Herman Witsius (1636–1708), Dutch theologian |
| Cornelius de Witt (1623–1672), Dutch statesman |
| Johan de Witt (1625–1672), Dutch statesman |
| Serge Julievich, Count Witte (1849–1915), Russian statesman |
| Peter Wittgenstein (1769–1843), Russian soldier |
| Władysław, name of four kings of Poland and two Polish kings of Hungary |
| Robert Wodrow (1679–1734), Scottish historian |
| Joseph Woelfl (1772–1812), Austrian pianist and composer |
| Margaret (Peg) Woffington (c. 1714–1760), English actress |
| Friedrich Wöhler (1800–1882), German chemist |
| John Wolcot (Peter Pindar) (1738–1819), English satirist and poet |
| Roger Wolcott (1679–1767), American administrator |
| Friedrich August Wolf (1759–1824), German philologist and critic |
| Hugo Wolf (1860–1903), German composer |
| Joseph Wolf (1820–1899), Anglo-German artist |
| Charles Wolfe (1791–1823), Irish poet |
| James Wolfe (1727–1759), British general, the hero of Quebec |
| Caspar Friedrich Wolff (1733–1794), German anatomist and physiologist, justly reckoned the founder of modern embryology |
| Christian, Freiherr von Wolff (1679–1754), German philosopher and mathematician |
| Elisabeth Bekker Wolff (1738–1804), Dutch novelist |
| Joseph Wolff (1795–1862), Jewish Christian missionary |
| Wolfram von Eschenbach (c. 1170–c. 1220), most important and individual poet of medieval Germany |
| Michael Wolgemut (1434–1519), German painter |
| William Wollaston (1659?–1724), English philosophical writer |
| William Hyde Wollaston (1766–1828), English chemist and natural philosopher |
| Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797), English miscellaneous writer |
| Louis François Michel Raymond Wolowski (1810–1876), French economist and politician |
| Garnet Joseph, Viscount Wolseley (1833–1913), British field marshal |
| Thomas Wolsey (1475?–1530), English Cardinal and statesman |
| Charlotte Wolter (1834–1897), Austrian actress |
| Henry Hartley Fowler, 1st Viscount Wolverhampton (1830–1911), English statesman |
| Karoline von Wolzogen (1763–1847), German authoress |
| Anthony Wood (1632–1695), English antiquary |
| Ellen Wood (1814–1887), English novelist |
| Sir Evelyn Wood (1838–1919), British field-marshal |
| John George Wood (1827–1889), English writer and lecturer on natural history |
| Leonard Wood (1860–1927), American soldier |
| Matilda Charlotte Wood (1831–1915), English actress |
| Searles Valentine Wood (1798–1880), English palæontologist |
| George Edward Woodberry (1855–1930), American author |
| Charles Herbert Woodbury (1864–1940), American marine painter |
| Levi Woodbury (1789–1851), American political leader |
| Henry Sampson Woodfall (1739–1805), English printer and journalist |
| Sir Albert Woods (1816–1904), English herald |
| Henry George Woods (1842–1915), English divine |
| Leonard Woods (1774–1854), American theologian |
| William Burnham Woods (1824–1887), American soldier |
| John Woodward (1665–1728), English naturalist and geologist |
| Samuel Woodward (1790–1838), English geologist and antiquary |
| Harry Ellis Wooldridge (1845–1917), English musical antiquary |
| William Woollett (1735–1785), English engraver |
| Celia Parker Woolley (1848–1918), American authoress |
| John Woolman (1720–1772), American Quaker preacher |
| Thomas Woolner (1825–1892), British sculptor and poet |
| Sarah Chauncey Woolsey (Susan Coolidge) (1835–1905), American author |
| Theodore Dwight Woolsey (1801–1889), American educationalist |
| Constance Fenimore Woolson (1840–1894), American novelist |
| Thomas Woolston (1669?–1733), English deist |
| Frank Winfield Woolworth (1852–1919), American merchant |
| David Wooster (1711–1777), American soldier |
| Earls and Marquesses of Worcester |
| John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester (1427–1470), English statesman |
| Joseph Emerson Worcester (1784–1865), American lexicographer |
| William Worcester (1415–c. 1482), English chronicler |
| Wynkin de Worde (d. 1534?), English (or Flemish) printer |
| John Lorimer Worden (1818–1897), American naval officer |
| Charles Wordsworth (1806–1892), Scottish Bishop |
| Christopher Wordsworth (1774–1846), English divine and scholar |
| Christopher Wordsworth (1807–1885), English Bishop and man of letters |
| Dorothy Wordsworth (1771–1855), English writer and diarist |
| Dame Elizabeth Wordsworth (1840–1932), English educationalist |
| John Wordsworth (1843–1911), English divine and scholar |
| William Wordsworth (1770–1850), English poet |
| Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae (1821–1885), Danish archæologist |
| Philip Stanhope Worsley (1835–1866), English poet |
| Charles Frederick Worth (1825–1895), famous dressmaker |
| Sir Henry Wotton (1568–1639), English author and diplomatist |
| Nicholas Wotton (c. 1497–1567), English diplomatist |
| William Wotton (1666–1727), English scholar |
| Philips Wouwerman (1619?–1668), Dutch painter of battle and hunting scenes |
| Friedrich Heinrich Ernst von Wrangel (1784–1877), Prussian general field marshal |
| Karl Gustav von Wrangel (1613–1676), Swedish soldier |
| Peter Nicholaievich Wrangel (1878–1928), Russian general |
| Sir Nathaniel William Wraxall (1751–1831), English author |
| Karl Philipp, Prince von Wrede (1767–1838), Bavarian field-marshal |
| Sir Christopher Wren (1632–1723), English architect |
| Carroll Davidson Wright (1840–1909), American statistician |
| Chauncey Wright (1830–1875), American philosopher and mathematician |
| Elizur Wright (1804–1885), American journalist |
| Joseph Wright (1734–1797), English subject, landscape and portrait painter |
| Silas Wright (1795–1847), American political leader |
| Thomas Wright (1809–1884), British palæontologist |
| Thomas Wright (1810–1877), English antiquary |
| Wilbur Wright (1867–1912), American inventor |
| William Wright (1830–1889), English orientalist |
| William Aldis Wright (1831–1914), English man of letters |
| Wulfhere (d. 675), King of the Mercians |
| Wulfstan (d. 1023), Archbishop of York |
| Saint Wulfstan (c. 1012–1095), Bishop of Worcester |
| Jürgen Wullenwever (c. 1492–1537), Burgomaster of Lübeck |
| Wilhelm Max Wundt (1832–1920), German physiologist and philosopher |
| Dagobert Siegmund, Count von Wurmser (1724–1797), Austrian soldier |
| Adolf Wuttke (1819–1870), German Protestant theologian |
| Alexander Helwig Wyant (1836–1892), American artist |
| James Wyatt (1746–1813), English architect |
| Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt (1820–1877), English architect and writer on art |
| Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503–1542), English poet and statesman |
| Thomas Wyatt (1521?–1554), English conspirator |
| William Wycherley (1640–1716), English dramatist |
| John Wycliffe (c. 1324–1384), English reformer |
| Alexander Wylie (1815–1887), British missionary |
| Robert Wylie (1839–1877), American artist |
| Jeffries Wyman (1814–1874), comparative anatomist |
| Charles Wyndham (1837–1919), English actor |
| George Wyndham (1863–1913), English politician and man of letters |
| Sir William Wyndham (1687–1740), English politician |
| Sir John Wynn (1553–1627), Welsh antiquary |
| Andrew of Wyntoun (?1350–?1420), author of a long metrical history of Scotland |
| Thomas Wyon (1792–1817), English medallist |
| Sir Thomas Wyse (1791–1862), Irish politician |
| Johann Rudolf Wyss (1782–1830), Swiss writer |
| George Wythe (1726–1806), signer of the Declaration of Independence |
| Daniel Albert Wyttenbach (1746–1820), German-Swiss classical scholar |
| Xanthippe, wife of Socrates |
| Saint Francis Xavier (1506–1552), Jesuit missionary and saint |
| Xenocrates (c. 396–c. 314 B.C.), of Chalcedon, Greek philosopher |
| Xenophanes (c. 570–c. 478 B.C.), of Colophon, the reputed founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy |
| Xenophon (c. 430–c. 350 B.C.), Greek historian and philosophical essayist |
| Xerxes the Great (519–465 B.C.), Persian King of the Achaemenid dynasty |
| John Xiphilinus the Younger (Eleventh Century), epitomator of Dio Cassius |
| Xuanzang (c. 596–664), most eminent representative of a remarkable and valuable branch of Chinese literature |
| Wilhelm Xylander (1532–1576), German classical scholar |
| Yakub Khan (1849–1923), Ex-Amir of Afghanistan |
| Elihu Yale (1649–1721), English philanthropist |
| Linus Yale (1821–1868), American inventor |
| Aritomo Yamagata (1838–1922), Japanese field-marshal |
| William Lowndes Yancey (1814–1863), American political leader |
| Ya‘qūbī (d. 897?), Arab historian and geographer |
| Yāqūt (1179–1229), Arab geographer and biographer |
| William Yarrell (1784–1856), British naturalist |
| Edmund Yates (1831–1894), English journalist and author |
| Mary Ann Yates (1728–1787), English actress |
| Richard Yates (1815–1873), American political leader |
| Robert Yates (1738–1801), American jurist |
| Stephen Yavorsky (c. 1658–1722), Russian Archbishop and statesman |
| Yazdegerd, name of three Sassanid kings of Persia |
| William Butler Yeats (1865–1939), Irish author |
| Charles Tyson Yerkes (1837–1905), American capitalist |
| Charlotte Mary Yonge (1823–1901), English novelist and writer on religious and educational subjects |
| John Yonge (1467–1516), English ecclesiastic and diplomatist |
| Sir William Yonge (c. 1693–1755), English politician |
| Hans David Ludwig, Count Yorck von Wartenburg (1759–1830), Prussian general field-marshal |
| House of York, a royal line in England |
| Edmund of Langley, Duke of York (1341–1402), English noble |
| Edward, Duke of York (c. 1373–1415), English noble |
| Frederick Augustus, Duke of York (1763–1827), English noble |
| Charles Yorke (1722–1770), English Lord Chancellor |
| Yōsai (1788–1878), Japanese painter |
| Edward Livingston Youmans (1821–1887), American scientist |
| Arthur Young (1741–1820), English writer on agriculture and social economy |
| Brigham Young (1801–1877), second President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints |
| Charles Mayne Young (1777–1856), English actor |
| Edward Young (1681–1765), English poet |
| James Young (1811–1883), Scottish industrial chemist |
| John Russell Young (1840–1899), American journalist |
| Thomas Young (1773–1829), English man of science |
| Ypsilanti, name of a family of Phanariot Greeks |
| Charles Yriarte (1832–1898), French writer of Spanish parentage |
| Eugène Ysaÿe (1858–1931), Belgian violinist |
| Shikai Yuan (1859–1916), Chinese statesman |
| Nikolay Yudenich (1862–1933), Russian general |
| Sir Henry Yule (1820–1889), British orientalist |
| Adolphe Yvon (1817–1893), French artist |
| Franz Xaver, Baron von Zach (1754–1832), German astronomer |
| Karl Salomo Zachariä von Lingenthal (1769–1843), German jurist |
| Saint Zacharias (d. 752), Pope |
| Sa‘d Zaghlul (1859?–1927), Egyptian pasha |
| Zähringen, name of an old and influential German family |
| Zaleucus (fl. 660 B.C.), Greek lawgiver |
| Zamakhsharī (1075–1144), Arabian theologian and grammarian |
| Zamolxis, semi-mythical social and religious reformer |
| Jan Zamoyski (1542–1605), Polish statesman |
| Giuseppe Zanardelli (1826–1903), Italian jurisconsult and statesman |
| Giacomo Zanella (1820–1888), Italian poet |
| Israel Zangwill (1864–1926), Jewish man of letters |
| Gioseffo Zarlino (1517–1590), Italian musical theorist |
| Friedrich Zarncke (1825–1891), German philologist |
| Zebulun, a tribe of Israel |
| Zechariah, a prophet of the Old Testament |
| Zedekiah, last King of Judah |
| Heinrich von Zeissberg (1839–1899), Austrian historian |
| Eduard Zeller (1814–1908), German philosopher |
| Zemarchus (fl. 568), Byzantine general and traveller |
| Guofan Zeng (1811–1872), Chinese statesman and general |
| Zeng Jize (1839–1890), Envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary from China to the courts of London, Paris and St. Petersburgh |
| Zeno (c. 425–491), East Roman Emperor |
| Zeno of Elea (Fifth Century B.C.), Greek philosopher |
| Zeno of Sidon (First Century B.C.), Epicurean philosopher |
| Zeno of Tarsus (Third Century B.C.), Stoic philosopher |
| Zenobia (240–c. 275), Queen of Palmyra, one of the heroines of antiquity |
| Zenobius (Second Century), Greek sophist |
| Zenodotus (Third Century B.C.), Greek grammarian and critic |
| Zephaniah, ninth of the minor prophets in the Bible |
| Saint Zephyrinus (d. 217), Bishop of Rome |
| Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838–1917), German airship inventor |
| Zeuxis (fl. Fifth Century B.C.), Greek painter |
| Yakov Zhilinsky (1853–1918), Russian general |
| Zichy, name of a noble Magyar family |
| Félix François George Philibert Ziem (1821–1911), French painter |
| Hans Joachim von Zieten (1699–1786), Prussian general-field-marshal |
| Arthur Zimmermann (1864–1940), German Foreign Secretary |
| Johann Georg Zimmermann (1728–1795), Swiss philosophical writer and physician |
| Helen Zimmern (1846–1934), English critic and biographer |
| Ignaz Vinzenz Zingerle (1825–1892), Austrian poet and scholar |
| Grigory Yevseyevich Zinovyev (1883–1936), Russian revolutionary politician |
| Nicolaus Ludwig, Count of Zinzendorf and Pottendorf (1700–1760), German religious and social reformer |
| Ferdinand Zirkel (1838–1912), German petrographer |
| Karl Alfred von Zittel (1839–1904), German palæontologist |
| Jan Žižka (c. 1360–1424), Bohemian general and Hussite leader |
| Johann Zoffany (1733–1810), British painter |
| Zoïlus (c. 400–320 B.C.), Greek grammarian |
| Émile Zola (1840–1902), French novelist |
| Stanisław Żółkiewski (1547?–1620), most illustrious member of an ancient Ruthenian family |
| Johann Karl Friedrich Zöllner (1834–1882), German astronomer and physicist |
| Joannes Zonaras (Twelfth Century), Byzantine chronicler and theologian |
| Zoroaster, one of the great teachers of the East |
| José Zorrilla y Moral (1817–1893), Spanish poet and dramatist |
| Zosimus (d. 418), Bishop of Rome |
| Zosimus (fl. 475–525), Greek historical writer |
| Richard Zouch (1590–1661), English jurist |
| Zouche, name of an English family |
| Miklós Zrínyi (1508–1566), Hungarian hero |
| Miklós Zrínyi (1620–1664), Hungarian warrior |
| Heinrich Zschokke (1771–1848), German author |
| Francesco Zuccarelli (1702–1788), Italian painter |
| Zuccaro, name of two Italian painters |
| Zuhair (Sixth Century), one of the six great Arabian pre-Islamic poets |
| Ignacio Zuloaga (1870–1945), Spanish painter |
| Tomás Zumalacárregui (1788–1835), Spanish Carlist general |
| Zumpt, name of two German classical scholars |
| Leopold Zunz (1794–1886), Jewish scholar |
| Gomes Eanes de Zurara (c. 1410–1473/4), second notable Portuguese chronicler in order of date |
| Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664), Spanish painter |
| Jerónimo Zurita (1512–1580), Spanish historian |
| Hans von Zwiedineck-Südenhorst (1845–1906), German historian |
| Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531), Swiss reformer
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