William Carter may refer to:

• William Carter (actor) (1902–1952), Australian silent film actor and company director
• William Carter (composer) (1838–1917), English composer, conductor, and organist
• William Carter (photographer) (1934–2025), American photographer
• Bill Carter (born 1966), American film director
• Bill Carter (musician), American singer, songwriter and musician

• William Carter (ink maker) (died 1895), American founder of what became Carter's Ink Company
• William E. Carter (1875–1940), American businessman and RMS Titanic survivor
• William Leonard Carter (1877–1917), British businessman and army officer
• Billy Carter (1937–1988), American businessman and younger brother of American President Jimmy Carter

• William Blount Carter (1792–1848), American politician from Tennessee
• William Carter (Tasmanian politician) (1796–1878), first mayor of Hobart
• William Grayson Carter (died 1849), American politician from Kentucky
• William Carter (Wisconsin politician) (1833–1905), American politician from Wisconsin
• Sir William Carter (mayor) (1848–1932), mayor of Windsor, England, 1908–1928
• William Carter (Mansfield MP) (1862–1932), British Labour Party Member of Parliament for Mansfield, 1918–1922
• William Henry Carter (1864–1955), United States Representative from Massachusetts
• William Carter (St Pancras South West MP) (1867–1940), British Labour Party Member of Parliament for St Pancras South West, 1929–1931
• William Arnold Carter (1907–1996), American Governor of the Panama Canal Zone, 1960–1962
• William Fields Carter (1908–1999), American politician from Virginia
• William Lacy Carter (1925–2017), American politician and businessman
• William Carter (Queensland politician) (1899–1969), publican and member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly
• Hodding Carter III (William Hodding Carter III, 1935–2023), American journalist and politician, son of Hodding Carter II
• W. Beverly Carter Jr. (1921–1982), American ambassador

• William Carter (bishop) (1850–1941), Anglican bishop in Africa
• William Carter (martyr) (c. 1548–1584), English printer and martyr

• William Carter (cricketer, born 1822) (1822–1847), English cricketer
• William Carter (Surrey cricketer) (1841–1888), English cricketer
• William Carter (catcher) (1889–?), American baseball player
• William Carter (third baseman), American baseball player
• Billy Carter (ice hockey) (born 1937), retired Canadian ice hockey forward

• William Harding Carter (1851–1925), United States Army major general and Medal of Honor recipient
• Hodding Carter (William Hodding Carter II, 1907–1972), American journalist
• Will Carter (1912–2001), owner of the Rampant Lions Press and font designer
• William C. Carter (born 1941), Professor Emeritus of French at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, noted Proust scholar