Wendy - I like
Wendy; a friend wanted to use it for his daughter, but was put off when his wife explained that it had started out as a nickname for a little girl, who was JM
Barrie's little friend ... his friendy-wendy! It seems every bit as eternally youthful as
Peter Pan himself, which could be a drawback.
Will (m, standalone) - My preferred nn for
William, but as a full name, it has too much volition and testament about it.
Willa - Unattractive; here in South
Africa people mostly use
Wilma instead, and I don't like it either.
William - One of the all-time greats; I'd have a
William, nn
Will, son tomorrow! Timeless classic.
Willoughby - Impossible to take seriously: the name of a mongrel dog in the first
Mary Poppins book, and hilariously pretentious on a human as well.
Willow - On a tree by a river, a little tom-tit
Sang Willow, tit willow, tit willow ... and then there are cricket bats. No.
Winifred - I've known a very nice woman and a very nice dog named
Winifred; my school science teacher, known as
Winnie (but so was the dog), almost put me off it, but not entirely.
Winter (unisex) - Season names just don't work for me. I might overlook it, on a female and spelt with a Y -
Wynter - but reluctantly.
Wren - I love Rentia, actually the short form of Emmarentia but used as a stand-alone; but not
Wren. Too short, too feathery.
Wyn - Only really convincing, and good, in a Welsh context; too close to Win(nie-=short-for-Winifred otherwise.