Unique girl names - esp German?

[Walnut8]

I posted a while ago, saying that my husband and I were thinking about calling our baby girl Annaliese. My DH has now decided that he's not entirely sure about this name which is fine but we can't seem to find anything else that we like that suits our very harsh-sounding german surname. We've ruled out many names that we like, ie Chloe, Juliet because they just don't sound right with the last name!

Can anyone pls give me some suggestions of nice sounding German girl's names (or names that would suit a harsh sounding surname). We are after something a little unusual as I have looked at lists of popular names in Germany over the last few years but the names all seem very common - there are many Lauras, Hannahs & Annas in DH's family. Thanks everyone.

Bettina
Gisela
Lisa
Katerina
Elena
Annamaria
Veronika
Martina
Sunne
Christa
Therese
Astri d
Magdalena
Theresia
Carla
Ursula
Sabine

It's hard to say without knowing what your surname is.

Katya?

Nadia?

Does it have to be German?

Do you live in Germany?

I think one of the problems is that many 'traditional' German names are now massively unpopular. I take it you don't want to go down the Waltraud / Sieglinde / Gisele path (a bit like calling your kid Ethel), or God forbid, Grit - the ultimate no-no for a child with English relatives, I'd have thought. The 'classical' names popular now tend to be similar to English names, so you have Charlotte or Sophia in the top ten.

Going through my dcs' class lists (now aged 7 to 11), there are the following:

Wilhelmina
Aline
Jette
Maren
Luise
Alexa
Therese
Annika
Alicia
Nele
Lene
Le na

A generation older (ie the women who are now 15-40) there are the rash of 'K' names:
Katrin
Karen/Karin
Kirsten
Katja
Kathrin
Karola/Carola
Kristina/Christina

As well as:
Leonie
Anja/Antje
Tanja
Stefanie
Nicole
Julia
Sabine
Uta
Wiebke
Lucia
Jana
Simone
F riederike
Ariane
Clara

Best of luck in finding a name that you both like, and that suits your dd well.

It definitely doesn't have to be German, and we don't live in Germany. The only reason we are currently thinking along the lines of German names is that they seem to suit the surname more, which is long, with harsh syllables.

Thanks for all of your suggestions so far! I am running them past DH as I type this. We are both liking Lucia (would that be a soft or hard "c"?) and Alexa.

I used to know a German au pair, who was called Heike. I always thought that was pretty.

Lucia is probably more Scandinavian than German (as is Annika, of course), but in Germany it's pronounced Loo-TSEE-a or Loo-CHEE-a.

I'm intrigued about your long Germanic surname. Couldn't be any more extreme than Leutheusser-Schnarrenburger, could it?

Elsa

It was one of our choices if ds had been dd. It was my granny's name.

My aunt is Karin (pronounced Car-een, with an equal emphasis on both syllables).

My granny's sister was Eileen.

Other names in the family: Inge (pronounced "ing" - as in "doing" - eh, with the emphasis on the Ing), Lotte

Lilja
Viola
Susanna

Silke (silk-eh)
Birthe (bear-ta)
Ute (you-ta)

No one in Scandinavia is really called Lucia, but we celebrate the Lucia Day on Dec 13, girls dress up in white clothes with candles in their hair... it's pronounced Loo-SEE-a.

I think Alexa is really nice but so is Annaliese.

My DH always say he's not sure about things, don't take too much notice! Now he says he's not sure about our top girl name but I don't like any other name so we're having it! Remember we have the final say as we give birth not them!

Nope not more extreme than Leutheusser-Schnarrenburger . Ours is pretty harsh (and clunky) though!!

Both liking Lilja. DH has a friend called Ilja and has always loved that name (for a boy).

Good on you annamamma for being firm! I'm too much of doormat, like to please everyone and everything! I have already been calling baby annaliese in my head though ... oh dear.

So many other pretty names, thanks everyone.

I know a german Maika. I think it's lovely.

Not Silke...my least favourite girls name ever!

Who about Anya?

What about Liesel or is it too sound of music.

Gretl
Ingrid

I love Hannelore, but you say that you have too many Hannah's and Laura's already.

Heidi?

I've always liked the name Gretchen.

Marlene
Frieda
Myriam
Lana
Cassandra
Olga
Elisabeth
Johanna
Klara
Christina
Christabel
An toinette
Anushka

Clara
Lena
Leonie

I have Heidi and Sylvia. I think both are pretty & soft sounding but still German.

Marie sounds absolutely lovely in German I always thought.

I love Jette!

Also Elsa.