Well at least he didn't suggest Adolf

op that list does not have any nice names in it! some of the other posters suggestions are nice though...

Andries
Mathijs
Nele for a girl

Gustaaf

I love german names, but your dh's names are dreadful, apart from Elfreide.

What about:
Adelheid
Wolfgang
Lieselotte
Bram
Otto/line
Axel
Rudolph (shortened to Rudy)

Sorry zeegilly but your DH sounds like a bit of a pain in the arse. So your baby gets his surname and his (very limited and frankly horrible) choice of first name without any leeway at all as to whether you really like it or not. I would put your foot down and put some of your own suggestions forward.

From my German friends there are:

Irina
Annelies
Antje

Fred
Marc (he is German, not sure if it is short for a more germanic name)
Stefan

Not sure if I have spelt them all correctly.

I like Elfriede and Bertram, both very cool in a slightly strange and old-fasioned kind of way.

I think your DH is insisting on horrible clunky old names (I am 1/2 german), so you end up saying you don't want a german name after all!

Very olde worlde german name + very irish surname has potential to be a terrible mess.

How about Katja, Kurt, Dieter (a bit like his choice)? Kristian? Joerg? Steffi?

Oh and Adolf H was Austrian so it would be a bad choice anyway

I like Jochim and Bertram though prefer Joachim (but thats the Danish in my coming through I think)

Not massively keen on the girls names I think I prefer Jutta. What about Ines or Una two German names I always liked.

The German or half German families I know have children called Noah, Anna, Lukas, Oskar, Maximilian, Jakob. Too English-sounding?

I think I prefer Adolf to your DH's choices. Though obviously you can't use it for a boy. OTOH, Eva for a girl would be OK.

Another vote here for Anneliese for a girl. My cousin has a German son called Jasper, which I like. It might be best to ask your German family for suggestions - something that would both be easy for them but would work in the UK.

I'm afraid I don't like any of his suggestions either, all harsh and old.

So far of the ones mentioned I really like anneliese. Can you show him this thread, the mumsnet jury say no! Good point by nooka, yes, lots of words/names have common roots in the Angles vocabulary so fit in both German and English. Is he aware of this? He may be vetoing names that sound too English to him but they may well have very Germanic roots!

I hope the final decision will be a mutual compromise, remembering the child will have years of possible puzzled glances and misspellings ahead! Don't let him dictate over you please, after all it should be a joint happy choice!

Both my dcs have Swedish names- as in very Swedish names, the kind that you just have to accept will have to have an alternative pronunciation/nickname in the UK. Some of the names on your list seem similar. So you have to decide whether that matters to you or not.

But your dh's list does sound very oldfashioned; much nicer names suggested by posters.

What is your shortlist?

With the exception of Bertram I think that all of those would be hard names to carry in the UK unless you live in a very multicultural area. It does seem a little odd that your Irish dh is dictating which German names are up for consideration.
My dd's middle name is Frieda after her (half) German great-grandmother, surely there are lots of nicer German names that would be easier in the UK whilst still being obviously German?

Anneliese
Anika
Bjorn
Dieter
Gretchen
Johann

Looking through the lists of German names I see that lots are common with the UK (Old English is Germanic I think) or have variants in other European countries, so I can see the problem in finding something obviously German but not hard for the UK. I looked at www.behindthename.com/names/usage/german

Girl. Was very unusual and I was a bit at first, but it really grew on me.

Torben is nice, was Berenike a girl or a boy?
(A confused smiley should be here but the device refuses to let me put a lower case c after the square brackets)

Frida
I suggested Gretchen when pregnant and DH laughed like a drain. Said it was v old fashioned and farmer-wife-ish

Knew a family whose kids were Anton, Greta and Frieda. Fab names.

Anorher family - Berenike, Rebekkah, Torben and Vivianne

I like Konrad and Sofie.

Do you live in Germany? Because I am not German, live in the UK and would fail attrociously at pronouncing any of his choices.

Well, for a start, Frida!
Don't like any of the girls names, sorry.
I had relatives called Sigrid (pronounced see-greet) and Ilsa/Ilse. Also Gretchen, seems very populer in the states (not that that is a recommendation necessarily). And Gretel, not too keen on it myself but its not been mentioned yet).
On the boys list my fave is Joachim followed by Bertram (Wooster!) And Dietrich.

Best baby name thread title ever!

I vote for Elfriede - gorgeous and Elfie for a little girl is lovely!

Caspar always reminds me of the ghost

Conrad, Felix, Anton, Sofie, Antje, Sandra, Katia