Winnie

[Bluebonnieblue]

NC because the name is a little unusual and I'm paranoid that it could link my profile to me

I adore the name Winnie. I always have, even as a little girl! The problem is, I despise Winifred and any other long name (believe me, I've searched and searched!)

Now I know it's a bit unusual, but what do you think of Winnie? We have our heart set on naming our daughter this, maybe something like Winnie Violet or Winnie Genevieve. I just wanted to ask on here as I know the MN jury will be brutally honest with me. What do you think?

Without giving too much away, we have a very difficult surname, foreign, long, and very heavy on the 'A's and 'L's, which means that any name ending with 'a' has had to be dismissed (we loved Alma) as well as any names ending in 'l' (there goes Nell and Mabel) and any names with too many of these letters in, as well as most one syllable names which sounds a bit short and ridiculous next to such a long surname. (I know some long surnames compliment short names but ours really doesn't for some reason!) Names which end in 'R' are also out (had to dismiss Eleanor as it runs into the 'A' at the start of our surname). Basically, because of our surname we have very few first name options and names ending in 'y' or 'ie' are pretty much the only set which don't sound either too blunt or like a tongue twister! So this is another reason why Winnie is good for us.

Another thing we should add is that we don't live in the UK so it's important that the name can be pronounced easily where we live, which Winnie can, while most others can't. Also gets rid of any of the "Winnie the Witch" connotations (not sure if that would have been a problem anyway?) but just wanted to set the scene/pretty much beg you to tell me you like it

So what do you think, MN jury? Please be gentle!

Um. If you’re not UK, maybe that skews it slightly. But still, my first thoughts are...:
Winnie the Pooh
Winnie the Witch
Winnie Mandela

It’s a bit “out there” for me, I live in quite a hippy ish area where we have everything from Margot to Dixie, Theo to Skhei (Sky for the uninitiated), but I do think “Winnie” might get teased.

How about Constance (Connie) Hugo /Huey?

Blimey. Skhei? I'd never be able to remember to spell that!

I was thinking of Connie as a safer alternative but I just don't like it as much! The Winnie the Pooh/witch/mandela things would all be unknown here, and if my daughter did go to the UK it would just be for a visit (or to move there if she ever wanted to as an adult obviously, but hopefully by adult age people wouldn't be joking about cartoon characters? I don't know. I do love it but I'm also not very brave or maybe "cool" enough to pull it off!

I love Winnie and plan to use it as a middle name if I ever have a girl

I love it, it's very cute and also works well throughout the years I would think. I wouldn't worry about Winnie the Pooh connotations or anything.

I had a really lovely auntie Winnie. Think it's a good name.

I've come across a baby called Winter, known as Winnie for short. Would that work?

I know of a very cute and lovely baby Winnie (Not short for anything else) and she only gets compliments on her name. Go for it!

So happy to hear these responses! What do you think of Winnie Violet?

Really very nice

So happy to hear that! Thank you!

I know a Winnie, short for Winter. I like it!

I know a 12 year old Winnie. She gets called Win most of the time.

I teach and I have come across a few Winnie's i recent years. They were/are all lovely girls. It's fine go with your heart

I ❤️ It

Winnie the Pooh!

Didn't realise that was only a British thing.

I like it. It's very hipster now in the UK but that probably won't affect you.

It’s fine, doesn’t seem at all out there or unusual to me. I’ve met several, along with lots of Bonnie, Connie, Minnie, Betsy, Elsie, Edie, Nancy, Hettie, etc. type names. It fits in perfectly with the hipster/cutesy old-fashioned nickname crowd.

Winnie Violet sounds good to me!

There's a Winnie in DS1's class. I don't know if it's her full name or not. I don't really like cutesy diminutives used as full names for girls, I think it is an unfortunate fashion that goes hand in hand with the pinkification of everything girl-related. But Winnie is no worse than any of those others (Millie, Evie etc)

I'm not really sure what Hipster means, I can never figure it out! Sometimes I see it used in the context of 'cool' (like 'hip', I guess, to use an embarrassing word which makes me feel 100 years old!) But other times I see it used in a negative way! Is hipster negative?

As previous posters have said, if names like 'Edie' are unremarkable nowadays, then why not Winnie?

If you want an alternative 'long' first name - and probably you don't - what about Guinevere? You say you're considering a rather similar name, Genevieve, as a middle name. Guinevere - Winnie for short - sounds good to me.

There is also Winona as a longer name, but I'm not a fan of it.

Like other posters, I also remember a really lovely older called Winnie', from my childhood days. It seems to be a name with positive associations for a lot of people.

Winnie the Pooh is all I thought of when seeing the title of your post, and all the way through reading it couldn't take it seriously, sorry.

I take hipster to mean unusual for the sake of being unusual. Once anything catches on and becomes fashionable they stop doing it.

Edwina for Winnie?

I think youre right op and sometimes it is genuine cool and sometimes means trying to be different and edgy. In this case I think it is actually cool.