babynames | (no subject)

(no subject)

What does everyone think of the name Willem? It's dutch and means strong-willed warrior. What middle name would you put with it? I've had a lot of people say they didn't like it and I should just use the name William...thoughts?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I like the name Willem, but then again, my great-grandfather's name was Wilhem, so I'm a little biased.

I'm not sure about a middle name though.

For starters, I'm Dutch and I don't like the name at all :p
But that might be due to it's reputation here (old-fashioned), and the only Willems I know are lazy, middle-aged men :p

Ick, lol, I don't really want my kid to be named after lazy, middle aged men. :) I've never actually heard it used here in the states and so it sounds unique to me. I think thats why I like it. :)

I understand why you'd like it :) And you shouldn't let people bully you into not using it if you'd really want to! :D

I definitely wouldn't let people bully into not using it. I just wanted to know what everyone else thought of the name. :) I still can't think of a middle name that I like with it! :)

I like it. It makes me think of the actor Willem Dafoe, which is a very good thing. :)

I concur! He was the first person I thought of!

That being said, I like Willem, but I think a child with that name would constantly have to correct people who would spell it William.

Yeah, I thought about that. I was considering just using the name William but I still like Willem better. My mom has to correct people all the time with her name so I don't really want to have to impose that on my own child. :)

I had no idea that was his name! lol. I had to look up the name to see who you were talking about but I really like him as an actor so thats another plus for the name. :)

I love him; I thought of him first, as well.

I think it's a great name. It's different but not strange, it has good nick-name options (the same as William, I'd assume), and it's easy to spell.

I don't think telling people how to spell your name all the time is a big deal, either, if that's a concern of yours. I always have to spell "Eleanor," and it's not a detriment in any way. Usually I just let people spell it wrong if it's not on official paperwork or anything.

And if you like it more than William, I think you shouldn't feel pressured to William just because the latter is more common.

Well, you couldn't really use Liam, which is a populare nn for William, but you could use Lem which I think is pretty cool.

Are you Dutch?

No, I am not. I just really like the name.

how are you pronouncing it?
if you are pronouncing it william, then yea, i would just use william as to not confuse the spelling...
but if it's wilhem, then i'd use it! :)

I'm pronouncing it wilhem. :)

I like.
Possibly because I had (okay, have) a celeb-crush on Willem Dafoe.
But it is a very nice name. You certainly don't have to be Dutch to like/use it (I'm not).

When I read the name I thought of:
1. a brother/bro-in-law of Corrie Ten Boom
2. Willem Dafoe

If you think it will be confusing, maybe use it as his middle name. But don't feel pressured to use William instead if you like Willem better!

Nah, there's no way I would choose William over Willem just because people say so. Just wanted peoples thoughts. :)

Ooh, yes. I like Willem.

(deleted comment)

It's actually a photo I took of myself. It was for my final art project last semester. :)

I like it a lot better than William, but that is probably because I don't like the "yum" sound at the end of William. It makes my tongue feel tight to say "WILL-yum" (that's how we say it here anyway)

So Willem solves that, it's a bit different too. William seems very strong, Willem sounds like a wood elf or something, which seems cool to me anyway :p It might be annoying to live with a name that is an uncommon variant of a very common name though, everyone will ALWAYS assume it's William, although he might end up going by Will anyway.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only