Hannelore?

[Janoschi]

Trying hard (and failing!) to find a name for a half Welsh, half German baby. So far I'm thinking:

Hannelore
Ffion
Miranda
Margo

Florian
Miles
Otto
Nikolaus

Any opinions / suggestions?

[Psammead]

Hannelore is dire, in my opinion. It's the name of DH's aunt.

Miriam?
Miranda is nice.

Are you in Germany or Wales?

Lara
Lena
Greta
Emma
Anna


For boys I am not keen on Florian or Otto. How about Stefan? Max? Thomas, Alexander, Mika, Jonas, Silas...

From your choices I really like Miranda and Miles best.

[Psammead]

Do you know this site?

[belgo]

Have to agree, there are far nicer names then Hannelore. Annelies and Lieselot are so much nicer.

[belgo]

Otto and Nico would bother be fine, I know a baby Otto.

What about Ottoline for a girl?

[CristinaTheAstonishing]

I think Hannelore is quite nice. I like Nikolaus too.

[Rockbird]

I love Hannelore. I don't know how popular it is in Germany but I've only ever heard of one over here.

[evamummy]

Hannelore is beyond vile, honestly. There are still too many 60+ Hannelores around for it to be trendy again. It really would not go down well in Germany .

Same with Otto - it is actually often used comically because it is so bad and old fashioned.

Margo would have to be Margot in German with the 't' pronounced.

I do like Miranda and Florian, the latter being very popular in Germany at the moment.

[Janoschi]

Thanks for this, everyone. Actually we're in Scotland. Otto has a personal reason, the others don't so much. Not minding the trendy factor at all, trendy names date so quickly anyway. Just want something we can rely on 90% of our combined family members pronouncing correctly, while also giving a nod towards the baby's heritage...

I like Ottoline, though it would be pronounced Ottolin-eh in Germany and I think it's one syllable to many for comfort!

[belgo]

Hannelore also has four syllables - Han-na- lor-eh!

[mathanxiety]

Hannelore -- I love but it's a bit dated
Ffion -- would leave the German contingent in a state of confusion
Miranda -- would travel well, but not particularly Welsh, or German either; very nice though
Margo -- wonder about the O pronunciation

Florian -- Love
Miles -- nice
Otto -- Love
Nikolaus -- Love

I love Psammead's suggestions of Lara, Lena, Greta, Emma and Anna.

Suggest Dagmar, Frida, Cosima, Romy, Elsa, Nora.

[Janoschi]

I love Dagmar but DH not keen.... Ffion I've always loved and having tried out a range of Welsh names on DP, it's the only one he can get close to pronouncing! If only he could say Myfanwy... sigh.

Thanks so much everyone for the advice and suggestions though. Very handy having an outside opinion because you can get so boggled by it all on your own!

[typsical]

Boy - Hansel?
Girl - Gretal?

Sounds like I'm joking, but I really like both of these names and they sound like your style...?

[A1980]

Girls:

Stefanie
Friederike
Birgit



Boys:

Manfred (I know one who has Manny as a nn)
Friedrich
Jakob (pron ya-kob)


Don't really know any Welsh names

[hulabula]

2009 most popular girls names in Germany:

01 - Julia
02 - Lena
03 - Sarah
04 - Laura
05 - Anna
06 - Vanessa
07 - Selina
08 - Elena
09 - Nina
10 - Lea
11 - Alina
12 - Jana
13 - Sandra
14 - Lina
15 - Sabrina
16 - Hannah
17 - Sophie
18 - Franziska
19 - Melanie
20 - Leonie
21 - Zoe

[ragged]

I can't believe the German choices, they're so 1960s-1970s in the English speaking world!

What about Lorelei?
Hannnelore -- it sounds like you decided that Hannah wasn't good enough for you. I don't speak German so I would have suspected that you made it up for that reason.
I don't mind your other choices.

[SlightlyTubbyHali]

Ragged - a lot of those names are becoming quite popular in the UK too.

OP - I must agree with the others, Hannelore not a good idea. Aside from the fact that it is my MIL it would never be pronounced correctly by English speakers (that last syllable...).

Some of my German friends' babies are called - Helena, Liam, Vincent, Anni, Jonas, Casper, Milla. So not trad German names at all. And my half-German children have names that are popular in the UK and none of the German rellies have batted an eyelid. You do have to be a little careful when choosing because the Germans may well pronounce a name differently (the Margo/MargoT thing being one DH and I discussed at length) but generally people are so international now that naming international babies is becoming easier!

Oh, and if all else fails Rosa and Elizabeth are pretty much the same in both languages!

[littleElif]

i am half german and still shaking after reading hannelore on your list. not sure about the other names either but I would defo not consider hannelore ;-)

[Sidge]

My DHs great aunt is Hannelore.

His German mum is Karin.

How about Claudia, Clara, Gretchen, Liesel?

[mathanxiety]

Vanessa from the list posted above is a gorgeous name imo.

[ADreamOfGood]

I quite like Hannelore!

What about Astrid, Heidi, or Gretl?

[Janoschi]

I'm so happy I have another 5 months to decide! How do folk do it? Torture from start to finish.

Thanks to everyone for all of their suggestions. All really nice ideas and ones I'll put past DH.

I liked Astrid but DH said Pippi Longstocking and vetoed it straight away. I LOVED Pippi Longstocking though so can't understand why it has such bad vibes. I tried Pippi too but that was a no-go from the beginning!

[coldcomfortHeart]

I love Otto but have heard that in Germany it's totally untrendy and old fashioned, bit like Stanley here (although those sorts of names are becoming very cool in the uk so maybe will also happen in Germany!)

[SausageMonster]

Margarita

Dorothea

Helga

Monika

[Nthirty]

I am in exactly the same boat so you have my sympathy. I have s4c on the satellite and I watch their birthday greetings slot for inspiration.
It is really tough. I used to like Llio but that is right out.
Welsh names that sound like German ones that were on the most recent programme:
Ifan
Efa
Caio (like Kai)
Nia (bit like Pia which was quite popular when I was a teenager)
There was also a Greta which is obv German

[pranma]

hannelore was the name of the lady whose body was left on Mount Everest for many years after she died there during a storm-sorry it gives me the creeps :( Maybe just Hannah or Laura?