Everyone, it seems, likes a good list.  I recently blogged about a special edition ofTime magazine that listed the 100 most influential people who never lived.  This list included the likes of Barbie, SantaClaus and Uncle Sam.  Just the other dayI came across a list on line of the 100 greatest folk songs of all time.  I must say, I was disappointed.  Is Jackson Browne’s “Fountain of Sorrows”really folk music?  I thought Dylan’s“Like a Rolling Stone” was the very song that launched him out of the world of folk music and into the realm of rock star. And, maybe I’m prejudiced because it was written by a Mainer, but where wasDavid Mallett’s “The Garden Song”? Reading this poor excuse for insight, it occurred to me that the onlythings needed to create a list is to have an opinion and a topic that hadn’talready been done.  I don’t lack for thelatter, but I had to really think about the former.  Finally I came up with the list that follows:  The 20 People Who Convinced MeThat William is the Best Boy’s Name Ever”. My wife and I have three daughters, but if we had a son, the following gentlemen would be the reason I’d be advocating for the boy to be named William.

#20-A:  Willy Gilligan.  I’ve been a hard core  Gilligan’s Island fan since I was eight. Although the lead character was never given a first name in any of the98 episodes or three movies, Bob Denver, the actor who played him, insiststhat, in the early stages of producing the show, Gilligan’s first name wasWilly.  The show’s executive producer,Sherwood Schwartz, however, insists that this is not true.  In fact, he says that it was never determined if Gilligan was his first or last name. If it could be proven that Gilligan was a William, I’d have placed him higher on the list.  On the other hand,if Schwartz is right, he shouldn’t be here at all, so…

#20-B:  WillPryor.  This is the adorable youngest child on the show American Dreams.  While the lead character was older sister Meg, a teenage dancer on American BandStand in the early 60’s, Will was the most sympathetic character in the family.  And, if he were real, he’d be right around my age today.

#19:  Billy Hackman-Gaul.  OK, I barely know this guy, but to the best of my knowledge, he’s the only William who is a blood relative, so I includedhim on my list.  He’s a second cousin (Ithink) and quite a bit older than me, but I do remember having a longconversation with him regarding the pros and cons of the Atlanta Brave’s free agent signing of Andy Messersmith. 

#18:  WillieMays.  A purist would say he shouldn’t be included because this Hall of Fame center fielder’s given name was Willie, not William, but 660 home runs, a .302 batting average and 338 stolen bases justify an exception be made.

#17:  WilliamTaft.  I don’t know much about his politics, and there were three other Presidents named William but President Taft was the largest President in our country’s history.  Weighing in at 335 pounds, he once got stuck in a White House bath tub and had to be freed by a rescue team.  Come on, a 335 pound man with a huge handlebar mustache stuck in a bath tub. Now that’s a worthy William.

#16:  Will Geer.  As an actor, he played Grandpa Walton.  As a singer, he was a friend and contemporaryof Woody Guthrie, Mississippi  John Hurtand Ramblin’ Jack Elliot.  Very cool.

#15:  Bill Cosby.  His hit 1980’s sitcom did more for family values that the moral majority ever did. Nelson Mandela credits the Cosby Show with preparing White South Africafor the end of apartheid, and historians say the show prepared the US for the election of the first Black President. If this is true, Bill Cosby may have done more for civil rights than anyone since the death of Dr. King.

#14:  Wee WillieKeeler.  This Hall of Fame outfielder really was a William.  For a guy who was5’4” tall to accumulate 2932 major league hits and a .341 batting average made him a no brainer on my list.

#13:  WilliamTell.  It’s unclear if this legendaryfigure ever really lived, but you gotta love his overture.  And if I could shoot an apple off of my kid’shead, my show would finally have that one great trick for the finale!

#12:  Bill Severence.  Bill is a member of our church in Bridgton, Maine.  He is alsothe web manager of our ministry’s web site. Countless times I’ve e-mailed him asking for help, and quickly he solveswhatever technological problems I can throw his way.  He is truly a genius.

#11:  Willie Wonka.  Cool top hat, a cane used for style rather than necessity, and an endless supply of candy.  Forget admiring him, I want to be this guy!

#10:  BillyGraham.  OK, so his stadium style‘crusades’ have had their day, but he never stopped preaching the Gospel.  In the 1957, he shared the pulpit with Rev.King, and Billy's a Southern Baptist, no less. In the 1980’s he shared the pulpit with Pope John Paul II, and did I mention Billy’s a Southern Baptist?  In the 80's, he was about the only TV preacher to maintain integrity.  He was quick to embrace the contemporary Christian music movement, working withthe likes of Larry Norman, Randy Mathews and Andre Crouch and the Disciples, tosay nothing of pop stars Chris Christian,  Cliff Richard, and his good friend, JohnnyCash.  He was the Chaplain to everyPresident from  Eisenhower to Bush 41when Parkinson’s disease began to slow him down.  If only he hadn’t broken his long history ofsilence on politics in 2012, when he openly campaigned for Mormon candidate Mitt Romney.

#9:  Will Beland.  Will is a former student of mine who had alove and knowledge of God’s Word well beyond his years.  A hard core Calvinist, he often sentclassmates scrambling to the Bible in hopes of supporting their Arminian theology that they accepted but couldn’t defend in light of Will’s knowledge and confidence.  Fun kid to teach.

#8:  William LloydGarrison.  This journalist published theabolitionist newspaper the Liberator.  He was also an early supporter of women’s suffrage.   

#7:  WilliamGolding.  I must have read Golding’sclassic Lord of the Flies 25 times.  As a junior higher, it was a wonderful adventure story; as an older teen, it was a study of various human personalities trying unsuccessfully to form a civilization; then I saw it as a statement about human nature.  It wasn’t  the Catholic catechism of my youth or someeloquent sermon that first helped me understand original sin, it was Golding’smasterful allegory.  His Scorpion God is an underrated second novel.

#6:  William Shakespeare.  Actually, I’m not a hugefan, but I can’t in good conscience include an author – even William Golding –and not include the bard whose name is synonymous with brilliant literature.

#5: William Carey. Known as the father of modern missions, Carey spent his career reaching the people of India with the Gospel.  Hewas the first to confront the oppressive caste system of Hinduism with thelevel ground of the cross.

#4:  William ClaudeDukenfield.  Better known as WCFields.  Fields show biz career startedas a vaudeville juggler, and he was excellent. Not a numbers juggler, but rather a showman, his routines were fastpaced and comical.  He was an earlyinspiration when I took up juggling as a teenager.

#3:  William Wilberforce.  This British member of Parliament fought to abolish slavery in England for 17 years before his efforts paid offand abolition passed.  His story is portrayed beautifully and accurately in the film Amazing Grace.

#2:  William Booth.  This founder of the SalvationArmy mixed missionary zeal and a social conscience seamlessly, and serves as areminder to those who might listen, that it’s still possible today.  He changed the lyrics of drinking songs andturned them into worship songs.  Hestarted programs for alcoholics and the homeless at a time when they wereviewed as nothing more than drunks and hobos. When the members of London’s upper class spat on his ‘army’ for theirdefense of the poor and oppressed, Booth told them the wads of spit were medalsof honor. 

#1:  William Penn.  This Quaker spent time in theTower of London for defying the Church of England.  He wrote the classic devotional work No Cross, No Crown.  While other colonies were started in theNew World so that specific groups could live in freedom together (Catholics inMaryland, Baptists in the Carolinas, Puritans in New England) Penn welcomed allfaiths to Pennsylvania.  He taught a message of simplicity and nonviolence that is desperately needed in our world,and  especially in the church more than ever today.