Winnie or Winny (/ˈwɪniː/ WIN-ee) is both a male and a female given name of Welsh origin, a short form (hypocorism) of Edwina, Winona, Winifred or Winnifred, Winter, Gwendolyn, Guinevere (Welsh), Gwyneth (Welsh), and Wynne (Welsh). The name's meaning is: fair one, white and smooth, soft, happiness, or fair and pure. The popularity of the name Winnie steadily declined among American women in the 20th century, but in the 1990 US Census, still ranked 699th of 4276.[1] Some commentators note that the name has risen in use for girls along with other names of a similar style that all exude cuteness and promote enjoyment, perhaps in reaction to serious times.[2]
 Illustration by Ernest Howard Shepard from Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), by A A Milne. The name Winnie has associations with the character from the children’s book. | |
| Pronunciation | (/ˈwɪniː/) |
|---|---|
| Gender | Unisex |
| Origin | |
| Word/name | Welsh (Wales) |
| Meaning | fair one white and smooth soft happiness fair and pure |
| Other names | |
| Related names | Winne |
It is also a male name from Cambodia (meaning bright),[3] or a short form of the English given name Winston. It can derive from many other names ending in -win such as Edwin, Darwin, etc., or be a nickname for the Welsh name Wyn.
People
edit- Varina Anne Davis (1864–1898), called Winnie, author and daughter of Confederate President Jefferson Davis
- Winnie Baze (1914–2006), American football player
- Winnie Cordero (born 1966), Filipina comedian, actress, and TV host
- Winnie Ewing (1929–2023), Scottish nationalist and politician
- Winnie Haatrecht (born 1963), Dutch-Surinamese retired footballer and currently a player's agent
- Winnie Harlow (born 1994), Canadian model and spokesperson on the skin condition vitiligo
- Winnie Holzman (born 1954), American dramatist, screenwriter and poet
- Winne Hung (born 1999), Hong Kong rower
- Winny de Jong (born 1958), Dutch politician
- Winnie Ruth Judd (1905–1998), American convicted double murderer
- Winnie Kiap, diplomat from Papua New Guinea
- Luamanuvao Winnie Laban (born 1955), New Zealand politician
- Winnie Leuszler (1926–2004), Canadian swimmer
- Winnie Lightner (1899–1971), American film actress
- Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (1936–2018), South African anti-apartheid activist, politician, and ex-wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela
- Winnie Shaw (1947–1992), Scottish tennis player
- Winnie Wong-Ng, Chinese-American physical chemist
- Winnie Yu (born 1954), Cantonese radio director
Fictional characters
edit- Winnie-the-Pooh or Winnie the Pooh, an anthropomorphic fictional bear created by A. A. Milne
- Gwendolyn "Winnie" Cooper, a main character from the American television series The Wonder Years
- Winifred "Winnie" Foster, a main character from the American book and movie Tuck Everlasting
- Winnie Oh, a teacher in Degrassi
- Winnie Tibideaux, Sondra and Elvin's daughter on the American television series The Cosby Show
- the title character of Winnie Winkle, an American comic strip published from 1920 to 1996
- Winnie Woodpecker, the girlfriend of animated cartoon character Woody Woodpecker
- Winnie, a kid werewolf in the movies Hotel Transylvania and Hotel Transylvania 2
- Winnie Mann, Helena Peabody's former partner in Showtime's The L Word
- Winnie Lopez, police officer from St. Cloud in FX Fargo
- Winnie, the protagonist of Samuel Beckett's Happy Days (play)
- Winnie Sanderson, Bette Midler's character in the 1993 film Hocus Pocus
- Winnie the Wasp, a wasp who appears in Season 2 of Jim Henson's Animal Show
References
edit- ^ "Winnie". thinkbabynames.com. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
- ^ Wattenberg, Laura (30 June 2022). "Zombie Girls are Rising, and They're Surprisingly Cute". namerology.com. Namerology (blog). Retrieved 2 July 2022.
- ^ "Winny". mnymbler.com. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
See also
edit- Winnie (disambiguation)
- Wenno (Winne), the first Master of the Sword-Brothers
- Winni.in Cake and flowers provider company.
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