May I introduce you to my son Mina? - Ti posso presentare mio figlio Mina?

Mina Kruse

The Italian nonni (and myself) no longer have to worry about us calling our child "Tronk".  William has now chosen the name he wants to be called with and it is not "Will", nor  "Liam", nor "Bill" (these would have been far better alternatives!). No. He has decided that his name is Mina! 

I don't know if this name even exists in English (I hope not) but in Italy Mina, also called "The Tiger from Cremona", is a famous woman singing love songs (like Barbra Streisand). She is so famous you won't find anyone in the streets of Italy who doesn't know her and some of her songs. If you are Italian, you think of Mina as the sensual woman who used to sing "Parole Parole", "Grande Grande", "Il Cielo in una stanza", Tintarella di Luna" and other songs about impossible (or lost) love affairs, who has now turned into an old maid.

A quick search on "Mina" on Google Italy

It all started because Tronk could not pronounce his name William.

"William, can you say William?" "Mina!"
"Wil-lia'm?" "Mina!"
"W-I-L-L-I-A-M?" "Mina!" 
"WILL? WILL?" "Mina!"
"Ok, Mina!"

I was hoping it would be a matter of time he will say it right, the same way he moved from saying ape (bee) to saying scarpe (shoes). No luck. We all continued to call him William and he continued to give us the same reply, "Sono Mina!" (I am Mina!) Now even his girlfriend Naima calls him Mina and I feel there is little I can do. I will soon have to introduce my son Mina to his school teacher.

I have tried to show Tronk a recent version of Mina singing "Grande Grande" (see above photo, first picture, second row) to make him understand that Mina is a 72 year old woman with hair dyed in orange, not a little boy. And this is what happened. He denied that the old woman is Mina and made it very clear to me that Mina is him and that I have to call him with that name, whether I like it or not.

UPDATE 1) - Below are a number of comments from my friends on Facebook

Annika:
So, you don't have umlauts on your keyboard? "Minä" is "I" in Finnish.
Axel:
No need for Umlauts... "Mina" is "I" in Estonian ;-)
Anna:
Mina is "mine" (like in minesweeper) in Russian. Hope, no explosions :)

UPDATE 2) - He finally said it!

On Monday 16th January at exactly 2 and a half years of age, Tronk finally agreed with me on his own name. I was using the bathroom. All of a sudden, I heard Tronk say these words, crystal clear: "William! William! Wil-lia'm! Sono Will-ia'm! Mamma" (I am William! Mom) with the tone as if he had suddenly had an ephifanie. I was so excited but skeptical that it wouldn't last, I have continued to question his name. Luckily, he has continued to answer "Sono Wil-lia'm! Mamma" (I am William! Mom). I just hope that he settles with this discovery and that he doesn't start asking me to call him Willianapa' or some other name that he likes.