Minnie May - is this a bad idea? And why do so many people dislike hyphenated names with Mae?

[caitlinrose]

Yesterday I watched "Anne with an E" for the first time and there was a character called Minnie May who was really sweet. I thought it was hyphenated because she was called by both names but google let met know it's not.

I thought it was kind of cute. What are your thoughts on Minnie May, called by both names? I think it's more of an idea right now and I wouldn't actually use it but I'd use May or maybe just Minnie.

What are your thoughts on just Minnie or just May? And Mae?

General question: why do hyphenated names with May, Mae seem to be disliked so much here even though May, Mae is a classic name? Does this apply to Mae, May on its own too?

Does it matter whether there's a hyphen or not? Is Minnie-May less popular here than Minnie May (called by both)?

And why do people seem to like May and dislike Mae (noticed this in a past thread)? To me they are both classic (Mae West etc.). Do you prefer Mae or May?

Minnie = mouse, and also my grand-dog.

I'd choose some other name to pair with Mae/May

Molly, Daisy, Jennifer,

Amazing! Which series of Love Island do you think she’ll be on?

Minnie would be nice as a nickname.

May on it’s own is lovely. Not so keen on Mae, it’s a bit try hard to make a simple name more interesting but looking like you just can’t spell.

Hearing people yell ‘Lily May!’ At the top of their lungs in the park or supermarket has made me a bit judgmental of this type of name.

I've heard it in a few places.

Minnie definitely slang for genitals where I grew up in the south east

Yup, Minnie May Barry is the first thing to come to mind, and if I knew a Minnie May irl I would definitely think of that scene every time I saw her.

But also, it's just a ridiculous, infantile name. The idea of being called that myself, at nearly 40 (which your DD will one day be) is appalling.

As a nickname for Minerva or Wilhelmina it's fine but that's all I see it as.

Minnie is a nickname not a proper name.

Mae as a spelling is a silly attempt to be unique- which of course it's not.

May is a classic name that's stood there test of time.

In the Anne of Green Gables era 'Minnie' would have most likely been short for something - and not always a name that sounds similar.
As in -
Margaret's were often called Daisy, Molly, Meg or Peggy
Elizabeth's were Betty or Betsy
I've not read Anne of GG but was Minnie her actual (as in birth certificate) name.

As a whole name it sounds like a description to me,
Minnie May = a smaller version of May.
Minnie on its own has a lot of connotations that are not great
Skinny Minnie
Minnie mouse
Minnie= Mini (makes her name ridiculous if your surname is a noun or Cooper)
Minnie= vulva, I still hear this now

Long forms of the name are not great but probably better than just being called Minnie, Araminta, Minervra, Wilhemina, Jemima, Hermione etc

Can you imagine a Prime Minister called Minnie-Mae??????

Aside from the utter sexism in giving baby girls such infantilising names, why oh why are some parents obsessed with “unique” names?

Bring your child up to have a unique character and become a person who makes a difference.

I think the dislike of it as a '-May'/'-Mae' is because:

• It's really overdone - there are a LOT of them around, which leads people to see it as common (as in too popular, although there's definitely a class element in there too)
• As a PP said, it's very cutesy and infantilising
• Because there's a lot of them it's just a bit boring
• Generalising a bit here but the Mae spelling often seems to be paired with interestingly spelled first names, so I think people see it as a wannabe-unique spelling (although obviously it's quite an old spelling in its own right). I actually know a Lexey-Mae, for example. And a lot of people aren't a fan of creatively spelled names, so the '-Mae' gets lumped in with that
• My personal opinion but I think a lot of hyphenated names look a bit twee or oddly self-conscious

I actually quite like Minnie by itself!

I speak as someone who gave their daughter an ultra feminine “pretty” name (a single name, not cutesy hyphenated) and regrets it now. I wish I’d called her Alexandra or Vivienne or Victoria, so elegant and grown up.

My daughter however, still likes her name.

Minnie was my great grandma's name (I never met her).

I know a baby called Minnie-Mae.

Lord Chief Justice Minnie-Mae Bloggs KC.

This.

Choose a grown up name like Minerva that gives her some options, and call her Minnie May at home. Then whether or not she grows out of it or goes with other versions of her full name is her choice.

@Madeawish1111 was Minnie her birth certificate name though?

And in the SW too.

Exactly! I can't believe how many parents still name their children as if they will be this cute little baby forever. I can't stand cutesy names for this reason.

I think you should always have to picture them as a 40 something person who wants to be prime minister or a heart surgeon or something. Will they be taken seriously with a name like that?

I think some posters might be missing that the OP got the name from Minnie May Barry (don’t think the books ever say whether it’s her full name) and I think that ‘cute’ and ‘sweet’ are both bad things when it comes to naming girls.

And in the North West. I have relations in Liverpool who say it.

OP has 34 threads about names, I don’t think they’re helping her 😄

I think Minerva is a beautiful name. Minnie May would be a sweet nickname for her when little, but then she could ‘grow into’ Minerva when she wanted to be taken seriously or if the vulva thing became a problem. Although I’ve only heard that euphemism on here, never in real life.

I'm late 20s and even when I was at school the "Ellie-Mae", "Lily-Rose", and "Daisy-May" type names were so popular and overdone, and they still are now. It's just not original anymore, they're not classic names like Anna or Lucy that are re-used generation after generation.

DDs nursery class has at least 3 hyphenated names like the above, and 5 Arlo's which is another over-used name