No it should've been a new name all together.... like Nintendo Revolution or Nintendo Fusion or something cool.. When the Wii U was announced it 2011 I thought it was an add on for the Wii but then I watched the video a second time and learned it was a new system

Honestly it needed to be called Wii 2 or something else entirely. The Wii U name and any other tag doesn't do it justice. It's confusing.

Honestly almost everything with the Wii name sounds like a Wii add-on (maybe with the exception of Wii 2) due to the Wii having many add-ons.

Should have been just called 'U' IMO

Perfectly stated.

Only "Wii 2" while using the "Wii" moniker gives the impression it is something more than an add on.    Either Wii 2 or a new moniker entirely should have been put forth.

Simply poor marketing research with the name.   5 minutes with a few casual gamers and they'd have come to the conclusion the name does not aptly describe the console as a successor to the Wii.

"NINTENDO SYSTEM 6" would be better.

what about super wii?  Do you think people would think its an updated wii (ie. not next gen one).

I think they should have called it Nintendo Frozen and put peach on the box and mke her look like she is singing. 

Wii & U

Maybe to some degree though for many that could still sound like a Wii upgrade add on in a similar light as other add ons.   Not many casuals would be familiar with the NES to SNES transition otherwise they'd already understand the redecessor/successor generation relationship well enough to know Wii U is a whole new console.

They could have called it anyway as long as the marketing was good.