# Why do many Williams have the middle name Henry?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-williams-have-the-middle-name-henry/928722>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 23, 2020, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-williams-have-the-middle-name-henry/928722 "2020-12-23T09:39:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 8

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**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\
**Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-williams-have-the-middle-name-henry/928722/8 "2020-12-24T12:24:09Z")

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We didn’t really come up with a satisfactory theory for James Earl either:

> [@What is the origin of the name pair "James Earl"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-name-pair-james-earl/911597):
>
> So, you have James Earl Jones; and I also knew Jimmy Carter’s full name was actually James Earl Carter, Jr.; and more infamously you have James Earl Ray, convicted assassin of Martin Luther King. I just recently found out that the full name of James Chaney (one of the three murdered civil rights activists in the “Mississippi Burning” murders) was James Earl Chaney. There seem to be quite a few other people who are (or were) named “James Earl \_\_\_\_\_”. I’m not looking for a comprehensive list, thou…

Bottom line, though: Not all parents are as creative as General Sherman’s.

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