Finding a German/USA Baby Boy or Girl Name

29 Replies

D. writes:

We’re due February 27th and don’t know what we’re having. My husband is from Germany and I am of German descent. Since we may be living in Germany at some point, we’re looking for a name that would work well in either Germany or the States. We’re a fan of modern German and Scandinavian names (meaning no Gertrudes or Rainers), and don’t mind something a little unusual.

We’re down to two boy name finalists. We’re leaning toward Lukas Alexander at the moment, but Carsten Matthias is another possibility.

We’re totally flummoxed on girl names, as we don’t tend to like the same ones. My husband likes very feminine names (Daniela, Liliana), but they don’t do much for me. I really like the names Corinna and Anja, but can’t bring my husband totally around. Karina is a potential compromise. We also keep coming back to some version of Annelie (Annalee? Anna Leigh?), but can’t come up with a spelling that works well in both places (also, my husband has a good friend whose daughter is named Amelie, so he’s concerned they’re too close). And we can’t even get to a middle name until we get closer to a first name, though I like Jane and Mae (my mother’s middle names) as companions to a longer first name.

Any help or creative thinking you could provide would be much appreciated!

I’m going to flip right to the German/Dutch and Scandinavian sections of The Baby Name Wizard to help me out here.

Actually, no, I’m going to do that second. FIRST, I’m going to do some perfunctory research into what names are currently popular in Germany. I don’t trust BabyCenter: they publish an annual list of “the most popular names in the U.S.” that includes only the names their readers report using, as opposed to the list put out by The Social Security Administration which is based not only on the entire country (rather than on a non-random sample), but also on actual usage (rather than reported usage). But their European twin BabyCentre claims to have collected “official statistics” to come up with this list of the top ten names around the world, including this list from Germany:

Top 10 Boy Names in Germany, 2007:
Leon
Maximilian
Alexander
Paul
Luca
Lucas/Lukas
Felix
Elias
David
Jonas

Top 10 Girl Names in Germany, 2007:
Marie
Sophie/Sofie
Maria
Anna/Anne
Leonie
Lena
Johanna
Charlotte
Hannah
Sophia/Sofia

Any one of those names would work in the U.S. just fine.

All right, now back to The Baby Name Wizard. First, boy names. You’ve got Lukas and Carsten. Here are a few more I like from the book and/or from the BabyCentre list:

Anders
Andreas
Elias
Erich/Erik
Evert
Josef
Karl
Leon
Otto
Soren
Torsten
Werner

Now, girl names—again, using the Baby Name Wizard and the BabyCentre list:

Anneliese
Annika
Brigitta
Claudia
Elsa
Elsbeth
Greta
Ida
Lena
Leonie
Linnea
Lisbeth
Wilhelmina

This is too many choices. I’m getting muddled. What I’m fervently hoping is that we have some readers actually LIVING IN GERMANY who could give us some input. Awhile back we were talking about French names, and I loved hearing from people living in France who could say things like, “Yeah, that’s a typical French name—but it’s, like, a DAD name, not a current baby name.” These things are so obvious in one’s own culture, and so difficult in an unfamiliar one. Jess Loolu is in the middle of a big cross-country move or I’d force her to ask her German husband Torsten for input. (And if you need a little breather between unpacking boxes and setting up utilities, Jess…)

29 thoughts on “Finding a German/USA Baby Boy or Girl Name”

  1. Mayberry

    I don’t live in Germany but I have a friend who is Austrian and whose boys were born in Germany; she is moving back to Germany TODAY. FTR her sons are Moritz, Emil, and Valentin. The oldest one is 7 and the twins are 2 so these are pretty current names.

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  2. Anonymous

    What about Johan for a girl? I heard someone talk about their girlfriend and I really liked the name; it’s less feminine than Johanna but still interesting.

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  5. Patricia

    D., here’s a list of top baby names in Germany in 2008:

    BOYS
    1. Leon
    2. Lucas/Lukas
    3. Luka/Luca
    4. Timm/Tim
    5. Fynn/Finn
    6. Luis/Louis
    7. Jonas
    8. Felix
    9. Paul
    10. Maximilian
    11. Max
    12. Niklas/Niclas
    13. Julian
    14. Ben
    15. Elias
    16. Jan
    17. Noah
    18. Moritz
    19. Philip/Philipp
    20. Yannik/Yannick/Yannic/Jannik

    GIRLS
    1. Hannah/Hanna
    2. Leonie/Leoni
    3. Lea/Leah
    4. Lena
    5. Mia
    6. Anna
    7. Emilie/Emily
    8. Lara
    9. Laura
    10. Sara/Sarah
    11. Emma
    12. Lili/Lilli/Lilly
    13. Marie
    14. Lina
    15. Maja/Maya
    16. Johanna
    17. Sofie/Sophie
    18. Neele/Nele
    19. Sofia/Sophia
    20. Amelie

    These lists are only part of the top German names list at babynamefacts.com. Many of these names would work well in the USA too.

    Alles Gute!

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  6. Patricia

    You may find http://www.babynamewizard.com/namipedia helpful too.

    The international popularity of Lukas is given, including Germany, 6. As for Carsten, “Danish version of Christian, very popular name in Germany and Denmark, usually spelled Karsten in Germany.”

    No German stats are given for Karina, but it’s rank in Norway was 213.

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  7. Frazzled Mom

    I can’t speak from a German perspective, but I gotta say, I love Torsten. Perhaps this is a “Dad name” in Germany, but in the US this would be considered unusual. Anyone from Germany know if Torsten would work for a modern German boy? There are some “Dad names” in the US that still work on modern US babies, such as Eric and Kyle – thinking of South Park I guess.

    For the girl, I really like Greta and Wilhelmina. I know Wilhelmina may look awkward, but it sounds heavenly, and it has some nickname options that really make in user friendly, such as Willa, Mina, and Billie. I am not sure if these nicknames would fit in German culture. But you know what? If I really loved the name and it had German roots, I wouldn’t worry too much about it fitting in both cultures.

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  8. D.

    Thanks for the input, keep it coming! International names like Alexander and Sophie are definitely getting more popular in Germany, but we’re hoping to find something that is both not too popular and also not too hard to pronounce in either culture.

    To get some inspiration last night, we looked at the names of all of the female characters and actresses on my husband’s favorite German soap, and the name Sabrina appealed to both of us. That might be a contender.

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  9. Anonymous

    I am sure it is just all the “teasing” posts lately, but Annelie/Anna Leigh/Annalee are just completely asking for it–especially that last one.

    If you do end up going with something in the Annelie family, PLEASE don’t drop the second “n.” Dear God, Analee. I would die.

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  11. Becky

    I have no idea on the actual naming issue, but I wanted to share my story of “kids will tease no matter your name.” My name is Becky. Pretty straight-forward and non-teasable, one would think. I got called Pami (some kids heard that my dad had wanted to name me Pamela), Pamela Pet, Old Grandma Becky (that one had a whole terrible rhyme that went with it), and many other teasing names – some mean and others pretty harmless. I think people should avoid the really obvious stuff (like spelling out weird words with initials, and the Annalee with only 1 n), but otherwise figure that your kid is going to be teased. It’s a fact of life. Just my 2 cents. :)

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  12. robin

    Here are a couple of my favorite German girl names (and, being German, keep in mind German pronunciation: non-sibilant esses, j’s sounding like y’s, etc.):

    Silke
    Danja
    Katrin
    Katja
    Thea (aspirated “th” sound, like Thomas)
    Irene (ear-rain-uh)

    Love German names!

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  13. Patricia

    Sabrina is pretty, but I think it would be classified as an international name, like Sophie and Alexander that you mentioned. Sabrina was the name of a character in Celtic legend. I’m guessing the name was taken up in Germany because of the movie by that name. Still the name is one that would be recognizable in both Germany and the US — and sounds similar to Karina which you’re considering. (I think Karina sounds more German/Scandinavian and personally prefer it of the two.)

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  14. Hannah

    Would you consider Chiara [kee-AR-ah]? From what I’ve heard from friends who live in Europe, it’s fairly popular (and rising) in Germany. I love the sound of it, and it gives me the same feeling as Sabrina. (BTW, Sabrina is great!)

    From Swistle’s list, I like Annika and Linnea, although I’m not sure how modern they are in Germany.

    For boys, Carsten Matthias is definitely my pick. What a great combo!

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  17. Firegirl

    My BFF from high school married a German girl & lives there. His wife’s name is Sabine, similar to Sabrina. Their sons names are more American though: Corey & Steven. (His name is, unfortunately, Skip)

    I like Sabrina and Torsten is growing on me, I think because it’s Jess’s husband. (:-D

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  19. Holly

    We were living in Germany when our daughter was born (she’s now 3.5). We wanted a name that would travel well across multiple languages and fell in love with Adeline, a variant of the classic German name Adelheid (Adele, Adeline, Elke, Heidi, Adelaide, and Heike are all variants). It’s not at all popular in Germany but very recognizable in all European languages and our international friends all heartily approved, claimed the name was from their culture, and lauded our good taste.

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  20. Catharina

    I live in Austria, not Germany, but hey, same language! And from the list Swistle found it sounds like the name trends are very similar. I don’t want to put any names down, but you said you like more modern names and of the ones mentioned so far Otto and Werner fit that requirement the least. I don’t think I have ever met a baby/child with those names. I have never heard the name Evert, but that shouldn’t stop you.

    I think all of the names you and your husband have come up with are great and would be well received over here in Europe. I love Carsten Matthias…Carsten is well-known but not overly popular and since Matthias is a pretty popular classic name, I like the idea of using it as a middle name. Your two contenders for boy names are perfect, stick with one of those :)
    Of your suggestions for a girl, I really like the name Karina.

    In reply to a commenter suggestion: I wouldn’t call a girl Johan and not because I personally do not like it, but because Germans and Austrians don’t really have that trend of using boys’ names for girls or having gender-neutral names (some exceptions, of course, i.e. Alex as a nickname for Alexandra). I think a little girl Johan would have a bit of a tough time. I do love Johanna, though. How about Johanna Mae?

    My personal suggestion:
    Alina (pronounced Aleena).
    Would sound great as Alina Mae or also Alina Jane – and it is similar to several of the names you have been considering, but still different.

    Other suggestions:
    Valentina
    Laura
    Ella
    Isabella
    Olivia
    Livia
    Charlotte (love the German nickname for this: Lotte)
    Alexandra
    Clara
    Lea
    Maja…
    (Some of these names are pronounced a bit different in German than they are in English. But since your husband is German, he would know which ones and then you can figure out if that bothers you or not.)

    Ok, sorry for hogging the comments. It’s just that my sister and I were discussing this EXACT predicament today, since we are Austrian-American and also want to find names that work in both places when we have kids some day. I might have to bookmark this link :-)

    Please send in an update once you have named your baby, I would love to see what you have chosen. All the best to you!!

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  22. Megan

    One of my BFF’s is of Dutch descent and she is named “Janna May” i think it is May instead of Mae. Either way, it is pronounced Yawn- a May. And I think it is quite pretty. We don’t call her by both names, her name is Janna. Yawn-a. I love it.

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  23. Court

    I’ve been living in Germany for almost 10 years and am married to a German so I’ll put in my two cents:
    Torsten and Sabrina are not current baby names. The Torstens I know are all around my age (mid-30s or older). Sabrinas are somewhat younger, but again it’s not a common name for babies at the moment.

    Here are two suggestions for a boy’s name that are popular:
    Finn and Till

    A girl’s name that I personally like although it’s not incredibly common is Svea (it’s Northern German/Scandinavian).

    Also, I can only re-iterate what an above commenter stated: Germans do not typically use unisex names. Kim is the only one that is commonly used as far as I know. In fact, you can only register a birth certificate with a unisex name if the child is also given a middle name that is clearly male or female.

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  24. Jess

    OK, I’m here with Torsten getting his opinion on your second set of lists.

    Names he says are common: Andres, Erich/Erik, Leon, Torsten (or Thorsten), Annika

    Names he says are uncommon but fine: Elias, Soren, Anneliese, Lena, Leonie

    Names he says are old-fashioned (and not in a good way): Josef, Karl, Otto, Werner, Brigitte (with E, not A), Claudia, Elsa, Elsbeth, Greta, Lisbeth, Wilhelmina

    Names he says are just plain strange: Anders, Evert, Ida, Linnea

    He’s not much of a name recommender, so this is all I could get out of him, except that he likes Susanne (good to know for my own future reference). I hope this helps!

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  25. Jess

    Torsten would like to add upon further reflection that he doesn’t know much about babies because he is 31 and still thinks of himself as innately young. His own name is probably slightly more of an older name than he initially realized. So I’m not sure how useful he really is.

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  27. Anonymous

    I’m partial to the name Anja because that’s what we named our first girl. I had a friend named Anja from Germany….
    I love Annika and Annalise/Annalies too. Good luck!

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  28. Karina

    as a Karina (middle name Sylvia) i have to say that i LOVE my name & love how uncommon it is (that’s just my 2 cents there). However,
    Lena, Mia, Maja & Annaliese are all beautiful and for boys I love Soren & Otto (Anders is great but may be confusing in the States –> Andrew, Andre, Andy). Good luck!

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  29. cerridwen

    I live in Germany, here’s a list of how I’d “rate” the names being mentioned here:

    Moritz, Emil and Valentin – all more or less popular on children in Germany at the moment.

    Johan – definately a boys name, never used on a girl! Johanna is a bit old fashioned but coming again (like Emma, Lotta,…)

    Carsten – either spelt like this or Karsten is a name mostly used in the 70s

    Brigitta Mae – Brigitta is very dated to the 60s/70s, as is Brigitte (a German Women’s magazine is called Brigitte)

    Lena – classic and in the top 10. There are many Lena’s under about 40 years old

    Karina – more Scandinavian then German. There are a load of Karins born in the 70s though.

    Torsten – similar to Karsten, a name mostly used in the 70s, but would work a bit better nowadays

    Greta and Wilhelmina (Willa, Mina, and Billie) – Greta is starting to make a small comeback in “arty” families, still unusual though. I love Wilhelmina/Wilhelmine personally, but it’s a name even my grandmother says is oldfashioned and from her grandmothers generation. I’ve met a few Minnas though. Willa would work here, but Billie would not be understood.

    Sabrina – many 15-25 year old Sabrinas running around, sometimes considered a little like names such as Hailey, Kailey, Bailey,…

    Annelie/Anna Leigh/Annalee – Annelie (and Annelise) are nicknames for Anne for women in their 60s. Anna and Anne are popular and classics (like Lena). A couple of ideas: Anna-Livia, Anna-Lisa, Anna Lea

    Chiara [kee-AR-ah] – a dog or definantely a Hailey/Bailey/Kailey name…

    Flora – my sister’s middle name and very unusual, I’ve never met a German person with that name before.

    Christiana – Christina is more popular here (nn Chrissi, Chris, Tina)

    Ok, I didn’t get through all, but I hope this can help a bit.
    Maybe I’ll just add a couple of under 5s that I know:

    Johnny, Simon, Paul, Moses (strange…), Leonard
    Lotte, Minna, Käthe (ok, VERY old…), Pauline, Paulina, Luisa, Leonore (Leo), Jasmin, Isabelle, Leni

    Good Luck!

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