Names that work in English and German (and don't sound too German!)

[CupOfBrownJoy]

I'm English, raised in Wales, DP is German. We live in Germany.

Surname is short, one syllable beginning with R.

I'm looking for longish girls names, 3 or 4 syllables. So far we can agree on Cecilia or Isolde. I like Beatrice and Amandine but DP isn't keen. Genevieve is a possibility but its a mouthful in German!

Middle name would be Anna, Sophia or (probably) Theresa after family.

Boys I'm finding impossible. I love Benjamin, DP hates it. He loves Fritz

We can agree on Welsh boys names eg Iolo, Ieuan, Iestyn, which are all pronounceable in German but not from the spelling, iyswim.

I'm stuck! I would really appreciate

1. input on names we have
2. further suggestions
3. opinions on whether giving a boy in Germany a Welsh name is downright cruel?

TIA

I know a couple where the wife is German and the husband is English. They have a Gillian (always gets Gilly) and Henry. Both lovely names and now they live in Germany I assume they dont have any trouble with them.

I have family in Germany. German/English names of friends DC's are
Thomas (Tom)
Yan
Elliott
Lili
Claudia

Think Yan is spelled Jan

I love Dorothea. Doro is a cool n.n.

A German friend has a Theodora who goes by Tio, but you could also use Dora.

For a boy, what about Otto - one of my favourites. Anton is also a really good name.

Fritz is ace!

Otis?

Same as us. Also R one syllable surname, spooky. Now living in Zurich v glad names work well and dont cause confusion. Girls in bilingual school.

We though went for short names so prob not want you want. However, i really would advise names understandable by both. For example, that knocked out one of my favourites Niamh as would never work.

Christopher
Elisabeth
Annabell

Longer names do tend to be shortened though. DS's is, I hate it, DS hates it, but people still do it!

How abour Elinor or Victor?

I like Fritz too!

classical names are usually a good bet.
markus
julia
cassius
rebecca
stefan / stephen
ruben

Conrad
Anton
Felix
Max
Leo
Julius

I know it's too short but I do love Elsa for a girl.
Max or Felix for a boy for me.

oh, just remembered another girls name (again, can't use due to close family)

Annalie

or Sebastian for a boy?

My Gran was german and she was Elly Dorothea - lovely names which work well in both languages though agree th sound can be very difficult in Germany.

Maybe Katherine/Katerina?

Trying to run though family names now - Alexander?

You could do what we did and go for internationally acceptable first names and then go all out on Welsh middle names (we went for Irish names which would be totally unpronounceable to many English, let alone Germans). Middle names are used very little in Germany so the DDs don't have much hassle at all with explaining/spelling them.

If you do go for nonstandard Welsh names, remember to take a baby names book along which contains the name, or a respectable online list. Names are only accepted by the Standesbeamte if they can be proved to exist previously, ie made-up names are not allowed. They show more latitude with non-Germans, but you still need that proof just in case (especially if your German DH registers the birth).

Please don't choose Fritz or Otto. Just don't . Otto is the name of an awful comic here (and a mail-order catalogue!) and Fritz is too close to Fritzl. Anything in the Wolfgang/Hildegard style will be met with sheer disbelief.

In your position I would go for a lovely classical name:
Sebastian
Julius (yoo-lee-oos)
Maximilian
Ruben
Darius
Felix (fay-liks)
Alexander
Benjamin (ben-ya-meen)
Johannes (yo-ha-ness)
Theodor (tay-o-door)
Anton
Constantin

Charlotte (shar-lotta)
Sophia
Lili/Lilli (vairy popular right now)
Antonia
Beatrice (bay-a-treece)
Clara
Hannah
Alexandra/Alexa
Gerrit (male and female)
Olivia

Ironically there is a real fashion at the moment for English names (Emily, Tim), and twenty years ago there was an equal passion for Scandinavian-sounding names.

Names to avoid like the plague: Grit, Frigge (frigg-a), Bodo

How about Adelaide, Alice (Alys), Ella, Elsa or Harriet? All have German rooots... not all fit your syllable requirements though...

Henry, Hugo, Milo, William or Ziggy? I think I know people with Welsh or German links for each of these names.

Karl?

Steffan is nice, as the pronunciation is similar in Welsh and German.

Gwilym is a lovely Welsh name, but not difficult to pronounce.

Whereabouts in NRW are you Cup? I used to live in Olpe, and worked in Attendorn. DH worked in Iserlohn.

You sound like me last year, OP! I'm Welsh, DP is German and my God the headache we had trying to find a usable name. Welsh names are pretty much a disaster area for Germans, which ticked me off something rotten at the time.

Friedrich / Frederick (so your DP can have his Fritz!)
Karl
Raymond
Markus
Axel
Mattias
Fabian
David / Dafyd (pronounced sim by Welsh and German)

Ottoline
Greta
Frederika (Fritz again!)
Esther
Kristina
Karolina
Meike (I adore Meike but SIL has that name so it was a no for DD)
Rita

Oooh, remember the ONE Welsh girl's name my DP could say:

Rhiannon.

I went to school with two German brothers called Lorenz and Christian and two Austrian/Scottish siblings called Lauren and Tim.

Dorothea is a nice choice too.

My german friends had Luidmilla and Odile and I thought both names were really lovely, especially luidmilla

I don't think giving a boy in Germany a Welsh name is necessarily cruel: you will just have to make your minds up not to be touchy about mispronunciations/mis-spellings. My boy has a Swedish name in the UK and he is fine. He just has to accept that there are two ways of speaking his name. But that's going to happen even if you give him an international name: it will never sound the same in the two countries.

loads of German dc have foreign names (English, French, Italian, Spanish, and so on). It is very common. As someone already said though, you need to be ready to prove it is an established name or the Standesamt can refuse to accept it. My dd's name is English but I didn't have a problem, it isn't that unusual and they probably had it on a list or online reference. If not, you just need to provide some proof that it is an established Welsh name for instance if they query it. I don't think names like Storm or Breeze etc although quite popular in English speaking countries would be permitted.

I think anything with a th will have different pronoun action

Theodore with be tay-o-dore not theo-dore
Dorothea with be doro-tay-a as opposed to English doro-thea etc...

And obviously anything with a j will be pronounced y

Boys names:
Sebastian
Maxian/ Maximilian
Leonard/ leonardo/ lennard
Florian
Christian
Henry

Girls:
Sally
Lisa
Christina
Emily
Harriet
Ottolie
Arriana