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This contains a questionw ith in a question - but first, your answer!

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If your language or dialect does not contain a W sound but does have a V, then you'll be likely to use a V sound for words starting with or containing a W. The French do that, for instance - Arsene Wenger! So, Willie gives you Villie; both short for William. And if you add on another diminutive ending, you get Villikins quite comfortably (think catkins or lambkins). It would work in German as well, or Dutch.

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Now for the question within the question. When Dickens was writing, he used this W-V confusion to typify his Cockney characters; other writers as well, of course, but he's the best-known. Sam Weller, in Pickwick Papers, calls himself Veller. Lots more. So, given that (a) there's a European tradition of using a W for a V sound, and (b) it used to be typical of the London working class - and that's a lot of people - then where did it go? I've certainly never heard it done in London by a Londoner. What happened to this once-typical pronunciation, and why?

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Anyeay, it helps to date your ballad!