Wim, Willem, William: Dutch name help!
Hi all,
My son will be here in about two months and my wife and I need some help! I am from the Netherlands where Wim and Willem are very popular. Dutchies will know, but the W has a slight V pronunciation.
My wife loves Wim, both the English and Dutch pronunciation. She is a bit self conscious about her Dutch pronunciation of it. We are currently living in America.
Is it weird if my wife and I slightly pronounce our son’s name differently? If she goes with the English phonetic pronunciation and I the Dutch?
Wim can also be a short form for Willem, we are on the fence about which to choose. My concern with Willem is that he will get called William all the time and constantly have to correct it.
Thanks for your time!
Posted Jan 27, 2023, 4:45 PM UTC
Go with what you love. Willem with a nickname of Wim is awesome and gives him the option of going by the more formal Willem when he’s older did he likes. Fwiw, I’m American and lived in the NL for six years.
As an aside, my parents are immigrants to the US and pronounce my rather common name differently than Americans do. Doesn’t matter.
Totally agree with this.