V is one of the two youngest letters in the English alphabet (the other is J), which appeared after Shakespeare's time, about 1630. But V is also the ancestor of three letters, such as U, W and Y, and even F can be said to be derived from V.
V originated from the sixth pictographic letter in the Phoenician alphabet about 1000 BC, which is similar to the English letter Y today and is called waw, meaning "cork" or "wooden nail". After 900 BC, the Greeks borrowed this letter and derived two letters, one of which later evolved into the English letter F, and the other evolved into V and Y. Before19th century, the letters V and U were inseparable and interchangeable.
References:
Baidu encyclopedia -V