Please help! My 7wk old daughter is w/o a name...sort of

Okay, so we named our little sweetie [name]Wilhelmina[/name], aware that many ([name]Linda[/name] and [name]Pamela[/name] included) don’t exactly share in our adoration for the name. We love it’s old-fashioned, quirky, melodious qualities, and the fact that it has so many nicknames. The myriad of nicknames was essential, given that [name]Wilhelmina[/name] is just too long for everyday use. For our first two we chose nicknames that they use almost exclusively in place of thier longer given names. We narrowed the list of possible nicknames down while we were pregnant, and assumed that one of our choices would just settle on her once we met her, becoming her primary name. Not so.
We just can’t settle on one and now we have a nick name mess! Everyone calls her something different (seldom [name]Wilhelmina[/name]) and even I shift around between choices depending on my mood. Family and friends are understandably frustrated by our fickleness, and just want to know what to call her. I want to settle on a name before something less desireable sticks…

Here are the variations we like (well, actualy, my husband likes them equally, and would just like me to hurry up and choose...)

*[name]Mina[/name]- Sweet and simple, works well, but a bit lacking in character for me.
*[name]Minka[/name]- The Polish variation, and probably my favorite, but receiving the most resistance from family and friends. Many ask where the “K” came from. I also tend to call her “Minkie” (I know, it’s fabric) sometimes along with this. I sometimes wonder if I wouldn’t have went with [name]Minka[/name] in the first place, if my mom and sister hadn’t run it into the ground…
*[name]Mimi[/name]- I love to call her this, but fear it doesn’t hold up as a primary name. I actualy think it will always be my little pet name for her, reguardless of what she goes by!
*[name]Winnie[/name]- This is what my dad calls her, and It’s really grown on me, but since we’ve been using the “M” variations for this long, I don’t know if we could make the switch (a side note, my dad has his own name for every one of his grandkids-it’s his thing)
*Many of you will be tempted to suggest [name]Willa[/name], but for personal reasons, that one is not an option.

Sorry this is long, but I would really appreciate some oustide advice.
Thanks!

Personally I line [name]Mina[/name] and [name]Winnie[/name] best. [name]Winnie[/name] is just so sweet I think I am liking it as number one but [name]Mina[/name] is also adorable. In my family almost everyone get a Y-nickname qhwther they like it or not (nick becomes [name]Nicky[/name] and [name]Chris[/name] becomes [name]Chrissy[/name] etc) its just something my parents cannot help… So that being said knowing this about muy family I would pick [name]Winnie[/name] so it fits the mold and I didn’t end up with [name]Willy[/name] or [name]Minnie[/name]!

I agree with [name]Erin[/name]. [name]Winnie[/name] is my fave followed closely by [name]Mina[/name].

I thought of another nn for [name]Wilhelmina[/name]. Since [name]Helen[/name] has the sound Hel in it and has the nn [name]Nell[/name] or [name]Nellie[/name], I think that [name]WilHELmina[/name] should also have the nns [name]Nell[/name] or [name]Nellie[/name].
I think it’s important to start calling your baby the same name most of the time so she will know what her name is. I am speaking from my own experience as a baby. It was very confusing to be called a ton of names.
I also think [name]Willow[/name] could be a nn for [name]Wilhelmina[/name]. Why not?

[name]Mina[/name] is my first choice. I also love [name]Winnie[/name] but don’t really see it as a nn for [name]Wilhelmina[/name]. [name]How[/name] about [name]Minnie[/name]?

I like [name]Mina[/name] as a more formal nickname. I also love [name]Mimi[/name] as a cute nickname.

I suppose [name]Billie[/name] is also out… I liked [name]Winnie[/name] out of the choices. It’s obviously a winner, it says so in the name!

But they are all good.

I do like [name]Mina[/name] and [name]Winnie[/name], and I [name]LOVE[/name] [name]Mimi[/name]! But what about [name]Minnie[/name]? That seems like such a compromise between all the names! Has a little bit of each!

Thanks for your replies! I hadn’t really given [name]Minnie[/name] much thought, that’s cute too! I really like [name]Winnie[/name] as well, but my other concern with [name]Winnie[/name] is the “Pooh” connection. [name]Even[/name] my dad, who started calling her [name]Winnie[/name] whie I was pregnant, calls her [name]Winnie[/name]-poo. The thing I like about [name]Mina[/name] is that it’s the most closely associated with [name]Wilhelmina[/name], the name we loved in the first place. I think I’m fine with [name]Mimi[/name] as my own little pet name for her, and then I still can’t quite let go of [name]Minka[/name]. Oh, I just don’t know… I didn’t have this problem with my first two kids. With them, we first fell in love with the nick names, we just came up with longer given names to give them more options as they got older. Most people don’t even know their names are short for anything!

Then I vote for [name]Mina[/name] or [name]Minni[/name]! And you and your daughter can share [name]Mimi[/name] between the two of you!

What about [name]Willa[/name]? I also like [name]Mina[/name] (I have a friend named [name]Minna[/name] and I find it very strong). I do find it odd that one name doesn’t stand out - doesn’t one just FIT her better than all the others by now?

I was looking for [name]Willa[/name] on the list, too, and think that would be a fantastic and logical nickname for your [name]Wilhelmina[/name]! :slight_smile:

From your list, I love [name]Mina[/name] and [name]Winnie[/name]. (If you go with [name]Mina[/name], you can always call her [name]Minka[/name] at times, too.)

Good luck and congratulations! :slight_smile:

She said on her post that for personal reasons she doesn’t want to use [name]Willa[/name], P.s. [name]Wilhelmina[/name] is gorgeous! I love [name]Mina[/name] and [name]Winnie[/name]!

Super cute name! My grandma’s middle name…if my brother and sister-in-law had a girl the name was going to be [name]Wilhelmina[/name] after her, nn “[name]Wylie[/name]” which I love!!

some different ones;
[name]Mia[/name]
[name]Leah[/name], may be a stretch
mila

I really like [name]Wilhelmina[/name] :slight_smile: [name]Mimi[/name] is gorgeous :slight_smile:

I really like [name]Winnie[/name] and that definitely gets my vote! I think it is adorable.

Whoops! I’m sorry for missing the part about [name]Willa[/name] not being an option. The more I think about it, I really love your [name]Mina[/name]/[name]Minka[/name] option. (And for what it’s worth, I really like [name]Wilhelmina[/name].) :slight_smile:

My husband and I went through a similar problem with our son’s name. We were desperate to find a nickname that worked for both of us. Eventually we realized that we had just chosen the wrong name to start with. Maybe, if you want a shorter, sweeter name, you could just try to find a shorter, sweeter name that you both really like. We definitely found that it didn’t work to have each family member having a different nickname. Maybe better to just return to the drawing board and start over? [name]Seven[/name] weeks isn’t so old (our son was older when we finally sorted it out!) Good luck. I know how hard this is.

Oh, I hope you don’t change [name]Wilhelmina[/name]'s name. It is so wonderful. [name]Winnie[/name] is a great name. So is [name]Mina[/name]. [name]Love[/name] [name]Minnie[/name]. You know, you could even call her [name]Lena[/name]. I see [name]Lena[/name] in there. You could even call her [name]Millie[/name]. But I would call her [name]Winnie[/name]. It is adorable. Oh, you could call her [name]Ellie[/name]. But [name]Ellie[/name] is so popular. What about [name]Elle[/name]? I see a lot of nn’s in [name]Wilhelmina[/name]. Hopefully I haven’t confused you more!

[name]Willa[/name] is a really lovely name, but I just can’t use it for a rather odd reason. I help run a haunted house at Halloween. One of our long-running favorite characters is the zombie “[name]Willa[/name] Waken”. [name]Just[/name] can’t get past that one…