Minnie - Short for What?

[AMC25]

My Mum was sometimes called Minnie, but more often Mina. Her full name was Williamina (not Wilhelmina), lots of Ina's on to male names were quite common at one point.

Suddenly a light went on in my head when I read this topic!
On the 1871, I've got a Minnie, then on the following census's she changes to Mina. I thought it was a spelling or transcription error but it all makes sense now....I didn't even think about the fact that it could be a shortened name!!

[Romilly]

Hi,
My Grandmother was a Beatrice Minnie, - & she used to tell us that it was after Minnie Haha, - from the Hiawatha poem...(I can't remember who wrote it though, - Longfellow possibly?).
Romilly.

Yes, I'm sure it was Longfellow, Romilly!
MarieC

Thanks for that Marie! (I was sort of 90% sure that it was Longfellow:-)

Btw...names like Millie/Minnie/Maisie seem to be having a bit of a resurgence in popularity at the moment...

Romilly.

[lancs.fox]

Hi all,

Lots of interesting replies there.

I started off this thread because I could not locate a birth or marriage reference for one of my family's ancestors, a Minnie, and wondered whether the reason was that it was no more than a 'pet' name.

It now transpires that the reason that the marriage reference was eluding me was because the Minnie in question died before marriageable age!  Her death is registered as 'Minnie'.  I have now also found a birth reference, which given the death information which is to hand, I feel confident about (also a 'Minnie').

Minnie does seem to have been a popular name of the period, whether as a 'proper' name or as a 'pet' name.


Regards,

Richard