Name: Guinevere? favourite nickname?

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I’m 30 weeks pregnant today with a baby girl yay! It’s my first born and we are trying to think of names. Both our families are welsh but we live in England. I’m also a massive Merlin fan! I love names like Guinevere, Morwenna, Emrys, Ellis.

We both like the name Guinevere (I know not strictly welsh but comes from the welsh Gwenhwyfar) so close enough. I like that it’s unusual (not in the top 100 names which I am keen to avoid + We are both teachers and keen to avoid many of the popular names like Isla, Ava, Sofia etc etc.) I also like that it can be shortened to lots of different things eg:

• Gwen
• Wynne
• Winnie
• Ever
• Neve

(I don’t like Vera as a shortened name of Eva)

Is Guinevere useable? Which is your favourite nickname?

Ginnie would be a cute nn

I really like Guinevere but I'm afraid I don't like most of the diminutive ideas because most of them don't naturally come from Guinevere.

I'd naturally use Gwinny (or an alternative spelling that sounds the same, eg Guinnie). Then Guin. After that I'd probably go Vera.

Gwen, Ever and Neve don't sound the same to me as those letters in Guinevere. I get Gwin, Evvie and Nev!

I could see Wynne or Winnie working, but I think both are a bit of an effort.

Of your list of nicknames I like Neve. Lovely name BTW.

Guinevere is fabulous! I think if I met a Guinevere, I’d refuse to refer to her by any nick name, as the full name is too wonderful not to use. We also enjoy the Arthurian legends, and have an Isolde, although it seems fewer people are familiar with that.

Ginnie.

Gwin/Gwyn

What about Vere?

I LOVE Isolde, very beautiful! Love that it’s more unusual too! The Arthurian legends are filled with wonderful names, I liked Nimue but my partner wasn’t too keen! There are so many though!

Definitely not. There is traditionally no J in Welsh. It might be the Cornish version.

I think the way around this is call her Guinevere on her birth certificate, and introduce her and call her by your preferred short name day to day, people may naturally abbreviate that of course, and when she's older she may choose her own preferred version, but it's a cool name to have. Personally I don't understand the angst people have about choosing a vanilla meaningless middle name on here.
Be bold, and name your child something meaningful to yourself...so what if someone else doesn't like it? My Mum wanted to call me Genevieve, the only reference I had growing up was an old crock car, she said would have shortened it to Vive, I started to like it when Jenna Wade was a character in Dallas, but it was too late I was saddled with a name of 'Karen' vintage...nothing wrong with the name( or mine)..a bit dated because it was common at the time...same as the modern day Eva-May, Amelia-Rose, Olivia-Rae and all the usual suspects..boring imho

Thanks yes that’s what we plan on doing. I think Guinevere is a badass name! She will have the longer name Guinevere on her official things but we will always call her by a “nickname”. I have always been Lottie even from birth even though my official name is Charlotte. I prefer Lottie as I have taught a million Charlottes.

I agree there are so so many Ava-may, Evie-Rose etc! I think almost every child in my nursery class is called those kind of names!!!!

It's an interesting talking point when her full name is revealed..it's a Wyn Guin!! 😘

@Puppylucky , Jennifer isn't Welsh. I think it's Cornish. (No J in welsh, and f is pronounced v, and the stress would not be on Jen)
@Flooper , Gwyn is a boy's name.

How about Gaenor. It's a diminutive of Gwenhwyfar

@DacwMamYnDwad -I never knew that! I'm Welsh from a wWelsh speaking family who named me Jennifer and I always understood it was the Welsh form of Guinevere - I feel slightly cheated now!

Ginny?

Jennifer is definitely a cornish name

I just had a quick look, Jennifer is in fact Cornish!

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_(given_name)

I'd call her Gunner. It's a girl's nickname with a bit of moxie.

@PuppyluckyT , Guinevere in Welsh is Gwenhwyfar. The stress is on the last-but-one syllable, and it sounds like Gwen-HUIV-arr. (ui having same sound as the wi in with, arr like in arrive)

I love Winnie but also Viva and Vivi

Guinevere is beautiful.

Gwinnie/Winnie either would be a lovely nn! Though as she grows she may well pick her own so just something to be mindful of if you aren’t keen on Gwin (Which I agree sounds quite masculine) x

I always think it’s a great shame to give someone a beautiful name like Guinevere and then shorten it all the time. What’s the point?

Yes it’s very nice

I’d probably go for Gwin or Gwinny - but Gwen is great

I think Winnie is fab

I guess because it’s a long name. She doesn’t have to go by her nickname, just like I don’t have to go by Lottie I can go by Charlotte. Nice to have a choice of names!