Wild Minnie

This is a common name in my family. "You look like Wild Minnie," my grandmother would tell me when my bangs would hang in my eyes. "You look like Wild Minnie," my aunt would tell her daughter, who has a mop of naturally curly hair, when she was young. "You look like Wild Minnie," I tell Kathleen as I'm brushing the tangles out of her wet hair before they snarl into knots.

Where on earth did this phrase originate? Mom says Nanny picked it up for her mom. Where, then, did my great-grandmother get it? I can find no information on any person who was once known as Wild Minnie. And I can't find that that name was ever used by anyone else. Are we the only family to tell our daughters that they look like Wild Minnie?

The more I search, the more I'm inclined to believe that the phrase is unique to my family. Was there once a woman named Minnie in my great-grandmother's town who looked disheveled and unkempt - who looked wild? Who knows? I do know that it's a fun phrase that I hope continues to be passed down the generations. It's one aspect of many that make our family unique. And I love it.