When I was reading the King Arthur stories, I thought this name seemed strange, and didn't know how to pronounce it. Now that I know how it's said, it's not that bad, maybe even pretty.
In the series "Once Upon a Time", Nimue is Merlin's lover who escaped from a war. She wants to become powerful with magic, but Merlin tells her magic is dangerous. So the two break up and Nimue gets enough magic to become the first Dark Lady.
Very lyrical and soft. It reminds me of Sophie because it has a sweet sound and reminds me of a posh girl. But it can be on different types of girls and I feel it has potential. I love Arthurian names such as, well obviously Arthur, this one, and Guinevere. They are interesting names and ultimately names like Sophia and Emma at one point before the 90s or 80s were considered old lady names and unusable. Just imagine a sweet baby girl with this name and it won't feel odd or etc.
This was one of my cats' names. I adore it. The name Nimue evokes a sense of innocence for me. While I'd love to see it used, I'm not sure if it would age well. It's a very child-like sounding name in my opinion.
There is just something very magical about this name: seductive. Yet also innocent.
― Anonymous User 5/1/2008
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I've only very recently come to enjoy the name after seeing "Nim's Island" and being reminded of the beautiful sounding Nimue. Such a soft and whimsical little gem that I am fast falling in love with!
Some pronounce it, nee-moo, which I think is not so pretty and too close to Nemo, but the pronunciation, nih-moo-way is sweet. I like the combination Elora Nimue -- VERY magical!
There is more out there in bardic legend about Nimue and her time spent with Merlin. As I recall, she meets Merlin when she is only a girl when he is visiting her father's castle and she becomes enthralled with the much older man based mostly on the magical training he can offer her. After years of begging him, she convinces him to take her on as a student and despite himself, Merlin, over time begins to fall in love with her. She sees her power over him and decides to use it to seduce him into giving her the last secret he has refused to share up to that point to give her. I can't remember what the actually secret was. But anyway, she puts him in some kind of trance while they're laying in the forest together and causes him to tell her. After that, she abandons him and goes off to use her magical skills for personal gain and power over men. Supposedly, she is the only woman Merlin ever loves and even though she turns to less than moral pursuits, he never stops loving her. Nimue is a little-known character in Arthurian legend but she personifies the seductress, a parallel archetype to Delilah in the Bible.