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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Queenie

59 replies

erinscupcake · 13/01/2015 19:20

I heard this one the other day and quite liked it. What is it short for other than Elizabeth? I read somewhere it can be short for Gwendolyn.

Also do you know any called Queenie, as in that's their real name?

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KERALA1 · 18/01/2015 16:49

Naming after relatives is all very well but there are limits. My adored gm had a hideous name. She would have been horrified if any of us had used it!

Marmot75 · 18/01/2015 09:11

My Grandma (92) is Queenie. I believe it is her actual real name, not a nickname. I like it but agree it could be difficult to revive. I'd be keen to use it as a middle name but I'm not sure my husband would go for it.

florascotia · 17/01/2015 18:32

As Jessie says, Queenie comes from 'cwen' , an Anglo-Saxon word for woman.
So it means 'Little Woman' or 'Missie' or 'Girlie' or something similar. The 'ie' ending is a diminutive, meaning something lesser or smaller or less important.

Your baby, your choice of name, absolutely, but it's not a name I'd particularly like to have.

MamaLazarou · 17/01/2015 18:13

I think it's lovely: cute a strong at the same time.

CruCru · 17/01/2015 14:31

I can imagine a tiny girl and a very old woman called Queenie but not a 45 year old who runs a department, has a husband, kids and a mortgage. I can't imagine a Queenie who can drive.

pilates · 16/01/2015 15:04

It sounds like a MN username

JessieMcJessie · 16/01/2015 10:40

Ah yes Zing

Queenie is not short for Elizabeth. it's a name derived from the Old English word "cwen" which means woman

that makes perfect sense as I have been watching Borgen and noticed that the Danish word for woman sounded something like "kveen", which struck a chord with me becuase I knew that in Doric (Aberdeen dialect) they call girls "quines". Fascinating!

JessieMcJessie · 16/01/2015 10:36

It's very popular name here in Hong Kong, where English names are often chosen by Chinese children when at kindergarten; I think the teachers have a lot to answer for. I was working with a very impressive young barrister called Queenie just the other day.

Other names that would be retro in the UK but are wildly popular in Hong Kong amongst women aged 18-30:

Mabel
Fanny
Ethel
Joyce
Cynthia

Notso · 16/01/2015 10:28

I like it. My great Grandmas neighbours were sisters called Queenie and Pearl.

VainVulva · 16/01/2015 10:14

I like it, but guess it would be difficult to carry off. Though I would love to meet a little Queenie!

The previous poster who has a Matilda Queenie that is a really fantastic name....lucky girl Smile

KERALA1 · 15/01/2015 19:47

Squoosh spot on!

KERALA1 · 15/01/2015 19:45

Sorry I usually like quirky names but this awful awful awful. It's an elderly prostitutes name. Met a granny at a baby group with a beautiful tiny baby - when asked gave this name and she said how dreadful she thought it was but her daughters choice.

ZeroFunDame · 15/01/2015 19:45

Oh, but Queenie and Gloria would have been the most magnificent sisters..

NadiaWadia · 15/01/2015 19:38

I always thought it was an old-fashioned nickname for Victoria? I don't really like it, I have to say.

MuddhaOfSuburbia · 15/01/2015 19:02

LOVE IT

...wasnt allowed tho

See also: Gloria

(mind you am poss not best placed to comment. My sister said my kids names sounded like 3 peeps in old folks home looking for a fourth for a game of bridge)

PrimroseEverdeen · 15/01/2015 18:56

I think it's really cute!

maggiethemagpie · 15/01/2015 18:54

I love the name queenie but probably more for a cat/drag queen than a real life baby who's going to turn into a real life adult. actually I think I will now name my cat queenie when I eventually get one.

mammmamia · 14/01/2015 14:13

I like it but as a nick name for something else. A friend of mine is called Victoria and gets called Queenie as a nickname.

HesterShaw · 14/01/2015 13:39

I think it's bloody awful. A hatchet faced 19th century matriarch from the East End. She runs a pub called the Bull and Bollock where she rents rooms for tuppence an hour and hacks phlegm into a spitoon.

Sorry OP.

IsadoraQuagmire · 14/01/2015 12:48

I think it's LOVELY! It makes me think of my favorite character in "This Happy Breed" Queenie Gibbons.

Casualty · 14/01/2015 11:59

I can imagine it maybe being cute on a toddler, but I can't imagine my 40 year old self stating my name down the phone to a stranger without a stifling an embarrassed laugh.

floatyflo · 14/01/2015 11:02

I know a 3 year old named Queenie.

I don't like it personally.

squoosh · 14/01/2015 10:43

I think it's bloody awful. A hatchet faced 19th century matriarch from the East End. She runs a pub called the Bull and Bollock where she rents rooms for tuppence an hour and hacks phlegm into a spitoon.

TheCowThatLaughs · 14/01/2015 08:28

Not nice at all

TheNewStatesman · 14/01/2015 08:22

Makes me think of QE from Blackadder!