Help! I've fallen in love with a 'no way' name

[Ibizadreams]

Please help.

Since I found out I'm expecting a boy, I've fallen in love with the name Wolfie.

I asked my mum to suggest names which had some links to her love of classical music and she suggested Mozart's nn - Wolfie.

I don't even mind the Tooting Popular Front link as he will be born in St George's!

However, the few people I've mentioned it to so far have been very "oh dear".

I did want to give a "normal" middle name, possibly James - to go with the one syllable surname in case he hates it. But what if he loves Wolfie too?!

My only other two shortlisted are Dylan and Felix.

Is Wolfie really a crime against children??

yes

Could you use it as a nickname for something more conservative - say William - and then give you and him an opt out.

Or call him James Wolfgang and then use a Wolfie nickname.

Isn't there a big hairy darts player called Wolfie?

i can't say i like Wolfie particularly

Wolf is better (slightly) with nn Wolfie or even go the whole hog and call him Wolfgang!

yes.

What about Wilf?

Yes.

Please go for one of the other two.

Your poor child will have no end of awful experiences throughout his whole life if you saddle him with this name.

"Oh look out it's a full moon"
"Power to the people"
"Does he howl when he's hungry?"
"Wolfie Brown, the interview panel will see you now"
"Do you, Wolfie, take thee....."

etc etc etc.

I think it is only acceptable if you call him Wolfgang.

But then..

'ooh Wolfgang, are you German'

'No'

William Felix could be nick named Wolfie

I must say I wouldn't really want Wolfie on the birth cert. I know it is more normal in Germany and maybe Scandinavia.

Wolfie is my brother-in-law's grandfather's name. It is a genuine name (he is South African of Latvian descent). My sister really wanted to use it - but chickened out.

I know a Wolf. He changed his name by deedpoll....it suits him but it's alot to carry off.

I love the name Wolfie. Call him Wolfgang on his records (no pun intended - harks back to pre mp3 era).

I think kids call each other a lot worse with out ever referencing their names. And people get nicknames because of their attributes, nothing to do with their names.

I vote for Wolfie or Wolf.

I had a lovely friend called Wolfie (short for Beowulf in his case) ... I say go for it!

Dylan is the best. Wolfie is truly, truly terrible. Sorry. Even Amadeus is better than Wolfie!

Please don't use it - it's your hormones talking.

I have just trawled through and found a really good post from an old thread by pixieonaleaf - here's what she said:

The best thing to do is this:

1. Picture it on a cup in a playgroup.

1. Picture it on a peg in school

1. Make a nickname out of it. Think about slang/any words the name might sound like.

1. Picture your child saying it on the first day of Secondary School. Picture the reactions of their peers.

1. Imagine the name being said by a mumbling teenage.

1. Imagine it being said at a graduation.

1. Think about it on a letterhead/list of company directors

At any of these stages, do you think about it as being embarrassing for the child, or the adult that that child would grow up to be?

Maisy, for example, might be very cute and lovely on a child, but can you really imagine someone trying to make their way in the world called that?

Very well put I thought.

Nice and easy: the playground test. Imagine yourself shouting it across the playground. Embarrassed? Don't use it.

Oh I like the list! Makes a lot of sense.

personally not wild about Wolfie, Wolf, Wolfgang or Wolfram any of that lot but if you do go down that route, I suggest giving him the full name on his birth certificate and using Wolfie as the nick, i.e. Wolfgang - nn Wolfie not Wolfie as given name. I really think it sounds daft on a grown up - sorry.

Sorry, all I can think of for the name Wolfie is Martin "Wolfie" Adams the darts player: here

would you be pronouncing it like the English word "wolf" or like the German name, which would give you the pronunciation volf?

Rudolf Hess's son was called Wolf Rudiger.........

Aww I like it. You must read Apple Bough by Noel Streatfeild, there is a lovely Wolfie in that. (Mind you, there is also a lovely Myra, and that is probably out of bounds for a while yet.)

Why not go for Wolfgang as a middle name, call him Wolfie as a nn, and then you can always change to the first name if you/he get embarrassed.