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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Quirky names that work in German

103 replies

JulieBindelHasAKindle · 17/08/2023 12:51

Dp is German and I’m English and we are currently living in Italy but will be moving to the UK in the next 18 months. We’ve decided on Aloisa for a girl but are struggling to decide on a boys name. I always wanted to call my child Jude if they were a boy but it’s inappropriate in German. Names we like are as followed:

Karl (but it’s quite popular in Germany and I worry people will think of Marx)
Mies (dp wants this as it’s a family name however I don’t think it works in English)
Egon (I like but dp thinks it sounds too much like Elon)
Rainer (we both like but think it sounds tol American)
Wolf (we both like but worry it’s too ‘weird’ in English)

Names we can’t use: Otto, Rex, Rafael

OP posts:
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ShoesoftheWorld · 17/08/2023 14:54

Oh yes, and lot of Emils (pronounced Ay-meel with emphasis on the first syllable) and Johanns, and Pauls (Powl).

ZoyaTheDestroyer · 17/08/2023 14:52

Albert?

ShoesoftheWorld · 17/08/2023 14:49

There's an architect called Mies van der Rohe, who I believe is Dutch. Mies the German adjective means nasty, unpleasant, particularly of someone's character or behaviour. I wouldn't use it for a part German child.

Your other names, and many of the other suggestions, are rather the German equivalents of Barry/Brian/Geoff - very 'late middle-aged man'.

Clement is good, more usually Clemens in Germany.

Names if German boys I know:
Bruno
Ferdinand
Lorenz
Carl (nobody thinks of Marx)
Oskar
Luca
Malte (pronounced Mall-tuh with a short A)
Gregor

KirstenBlest · 17/08/2023 14:42

Suggestions: Ludo(vic), Emil, Rudy, Tobias (Tob-ee-as), Jonas, Leo(n), Matteo, Peter, Frank, Bruno. Not sure if they really are German or dated/overused.

Dylanesque · 17/08/2023 14:35

Bruno
Kiefer
Lothar
Johann

Ormally · 17/08/2023 14:26

Emil
Marcus
I've met one Timon in Germany

RiverLen · 17/08/2023 14:24

I would read Mies as Mays.

SuperCallieFragilistic · 17/08/2023 14:23

Reiker?

Original poster
JulieBindelHasAKindle · 17/08/2023 14:23

@RoadSignFool we would use the German pronunciation, dp is quite keen but that is my concern. I feel like it’s very stereotypically German.

OP posts:
RoadSignFool · 17/08/2023 14:21

Sorry, W or V?

RoadSignFool · 17/08/2023 14:21

I like Oskar, my DS has a classmate with that name and spelling (German Mum).

Wolf is a bit too “comedy German”, I can just hear all the British people going “Voolf! in a cod German accent. Would you say it with a W or B sound when speaking English?

Original poster
JulieBindelHasAKindle · 17/08/2023 14:21

@RoadSignFool Mies is pronounced meese (rhymes with geese). Is Miles particularly popular in the UK at the moment? I don’t know any Miles’s however I don’t really know any small children.

OP posts:
KirstenBlest · 17/08/2023 14:18

@RoadSignFool , It's pronounced Meece.

NeedToKnow101 · 17/08/2023 14:18

Otto!

RoadSignFool · 17/08/2023 14:17

Is Mies pronounced “Meez”?

I think that in the UK people might think it was a typo for “Miles”. It’s an interesting one though and easy to explain that it’s a family name. But to me it doesn’t feel like a name, if that makes sense - can you hear yourself saying “oh I just need to change Mies’ nappy?” (It’s also a bit tricky when you have an ‘s like that.), or “Hi Fred, do you want to come to the park with Mies and me?”

JosieGrossie · 17/08/2023 14:16

Not German as such, but Lucien or Florian could work

queenofthebongo · 17/08/2023 14:15

Lars

RiverLen · 17/08/2023 14:15

Karl Marx link wouldn’t be a problem.. You could spell it as Carl?

freidrich
Kurt
Hans
Fritz
Fabio
Filip

AuntieJune · 17/08/2023 14:13

Ernst/Ernest

Original poster
JulieBindelHasAKindle · 17/08/2023 14:11

@Echobelly Ooh I love Clement, I haven’t met many in Germany or Britain so I reckon dp would approve.

OP posts:
Whatineed · 17/08/2023 14:09

Kai
Sven is also a German name
Linus
Emil
Otto
Felix

Hoppinggreen · 17/08/2023 14:04

oskar

romdowa · 17/08/2023 14:03

ineedanewnametoday · 17/08/2023 13:14

Julius
Julian
(That's if you don't mind the different pronunciation in English and German)

Tobias
Ansgar
Henrik
Frederik

I'm intrigued by the name Mies...I've never heard this name before (lived in Germany over twenty years) and there's an adjective mies which means something like lousy...do you know any more about it?

Tobias is just beyond cute 😍 and could be shortened to Toby for use in the UK if you wanted

KirstenBlest · 17/08/2023 14:00

@JulieBindelHasAKindle , I know it is but people in the UK with read it as Rain-er.

Meadowflower2023 · 17/08/2023 13:57

*Rainer