Baby names that also work in German?

General Name Discussion
1

We’re bilingual and live in [name]Austria[/name] (I’m American, he’s not). We’re having a hard time coming up with names that work well with both our cultures- we don’t want grandparents not being able to pronounce the name, etc… We’re kind of stuck.

Names we like include [name]Anna[/name], [name]Sophia[/name], [name]Matthias[/name], and [name]Alexander[/name]. Anyone have any more creative ideas? Names we like but can’t use because of the culture thing include [name]Wyatt[/name], [name]Alois[/name], [name]Johannes[/name], and [name]Vivian[/name]… I don’t mind very uncommon names but really don’t want a [name]WAY[/name] [name]German[/name] one like [name]Heinrich[/name] or something- to the Austrian ear they are incredibly uncool. Can anyone help?

2

[name]Hi[/name].

Girls
[name]Anneliese[/name]
[name]Liesl[/name]
[name]Brigitta[/name]
[name]Heidi[/name]
[name]Adelaide[/name]
[name]Elisabeth[/name]
[name]Lena[/name]
[name]Ingrid[/name]
[name]Ilsa[/name]
[name]Emmeline[/name]
[name]Emma[/name]
[name]Astrid[/name]
[name]Anna[/name]
[name]Elsa[/name]
[name]Gretchen[/name]
Boys
[name]Max[/name]
[name]Leo[/name]
[name]Anders[/name]
[name]Peter[/name]
[name]Henry[/name]
[name]Laszlo[/name]
Good luck!

3

I like [name]Liesl[/name] is that uncool in [name]Austria[/name]

also [name]Anneliese[/name]
[name]Matilda[/name]
[name]Caroline[/name]
[name]Laurel[/name]
[name]Alyssa[/name]
[name]Catriona[/name]

[name]Peter[/name]
[name]Felix[/name]
[name]James[/name]
[name]Gabriel[/name]
[name]Charles[/name]
[name]Lucas[/name]
[name]Daniel[/name]

4

[name]Adelaide[/name]
[name]Adele[/name]
[name]Alida[/name]
[name]Eloise[/name]
[name]Elspeth[/name]
[name]Genevieve[/name]
[name]Calla[/name]
[name]Georgia[/name]
[name]Caroline[/name]
[name]Milla[/name]
[name]Gisele[/name]
[name]Claudia[/name]
[name]Elke[/name]
[name]Amalia[/name]
[name]Agatha[/name]
[name]Rosa[/name]
[name]Tabatha[/name]
[name]Ida[/name]
[name]Leonie[/name]
[name]Lorelei[/name]
[name]Luana[/name]

[name]Leon[/name]
[name]August[/name]
[name]Andreas[/name]
[name]Axel[/name]
[name]Caspar[/name]
[name]Archie[/name]
[name]Everett[/name]
[name]Hugh[/name]
[name]Kiefer[/name]
[name]Orlando[/name]
[name]Curtis[/name]
[name]Meyer[/name]
[name]Rocco[/name]
[name]Bronson[/name]
[name]Immanuel[/name]
[name]Harvey[/name]
[name]Dustin[/name]
[name]Xavier[/name]
[name]Raphael[/name]
[name]Becker[/name]
[name]Rudi[/name]
[name]Christophe[/name]
[name]Nicholas[/name]
[name]Tobias[/name]

5

I like:
GIRL
[name]Greta[/name]
[name]Annabel[/name]
Inna
[name]Lena[/name]
[name]Emilia[/name]
[name]Elisa[/name]
[name]Helena[/name]
[name]Liliana[/name]
[name]Liana[/name]
[name]Milla[/name]
[name]Nella[/name]
[name]Nelly[/name]
[name]Stella[/name]
[name]Sara[/name]
[name]Nina[/name]
BOY
[name]Adam[/name]
[name]Brennan[/name]
[name]Samuel[/name]
[name]Daniel[/name]
[name]Nathaniel[/name]
[name]Eric[/name]
[name]Felix[/name]
[name]Gabriel[/name]
[name]Lucien[/name]
[name]Oscar[/name]
[name]Oliver[/name]
[name]Vincent[/name]
[name]Roman[/name]
[name]Stellan[/name]
[name]Sebastian[/name]
[name]Robert[/name]

6

Some of these names are Dutch.
[name]Anneliese[/name]
[name]Claudia[/name]
[name]Elsbeth[/name]
[name]Ida[/name]
[name]Lena[/name]
[name]Liselotte[/name] nn [name]Lottie[/name] - love!
[name]Lisbeth[/name]
[name]Mariel[/name] - love!
[name]Verena[/name]

[name]Andreas[/name]
[name]Benno[/name]
[name]Bram[/name]
[name]Bruno[/name]
[name]Carsten[/name]
[name]Fritz[/name]
[name]Jurgen[/name]
[name]Lars[/name]
[name]Markus[/name]
[name]Matthias[/name]
[name]Stefan[/name]

Would [name]Clara[/name], [name]Peter[/name], or [name]Simon[/name] work? Or even [name]Cordelia[/name] nn [name]Corrie[/name] or [name]Cora[/name]?

7

This post is sort of old, but I just had to comment! My ([name]German[/name]) husband and I are in the exact same boat! We are living in Germany and expecting our first baby this year. We have the same concerns re: grandparents’ pronunciation. I also want names that are roughly pronounced the same in both languages. I don’t like the thought of our child having two different names.

I’ve noticed that many of the suggested names here are very old fashioned in [name]German[/name]. No offense to the previous posters! It’s hard to know this if you’re not in a [name]German[/name]-speaking country. For example [name]Verena[/name] is totally 80s, and I could NEVER imagine a small girl named [name]Brigitta[/name] or [name]Liesl[/name] or a boy named J”rgen!

We’re only at the beginning of this process (we won’t get serious about it until we find out the sex), but here are some names that we have tossed around:

[name]Peter[/name]
[name]Till[/name]
[name]Niels[/name]
[name]Henrik[/name]
[name]Nicholas[/name]
[name]Thomas[/name]
[name]Stellan[/name]
[name]Frederik[/name]
[name]Finn[/name]

[name]Greta[/name]
[name]Nela[/name]
[name]Cora[/name]
[name]Maya[/name]
[name]Franziska[/name]
[name]Carlotta[/name]

A potentially good website is: http://www.vorname.com. There is a generator function which generators random lists of baby names. Could be useful.

Good luck!

8

Here is a link to Germanys top 500: Vornamenstatistik 2009 * TOP 500

The site is in [name]German[/name] so being able to read [name]German[/name] helps, but even if you cant it is easy to read the popularity charts to get an idea of what names are being used.

It has really helped us in picking out names that work in both cultures. Our favorites right now are [name]Andreas[/name], [name]Julian[/name], [name]Eva[/name], and [name]Isabel[/name]. Others we like are [name]Sebastian[/name], [name]Henrik[/name], [name]Soren[/name], [name]Leon[/name], [name]Maximilian[/name], [name]Finn[/name], [name]Felix[/name], [name]Anton[/name], [name]Emilia[/name], [name]Iris[/name], [name]Adele[/name], and [name]Rosalie[/name]. All of which are found on both the US top 1000 and the [name]German[/name] top 500. I think all the names you listed would work in both countries.

[name]Hope[/name] this helps!

9

[name]Alina[/name]
[name]Louisa[/name]
[name]Lucy[/name]/[name]Lucie[/name]
[name]Fiona[/name]
[name]Antonia[/name]
[name]Celina[/name]
[name]Helena[/name]
[name]Nina[/name]
[name]Mila[/name]
[name]Lela[/name]
[name]Thea[/name]
[name]Amalia[/name]
[name]Ina[/name]
[name]Talia[/name]/[name]Thalia[/name]
[name]Annelie[/name]
[name]Anja[/name]
[name]Lia[/name]
[name]Ayla[/name]
[name]Tia[/name]
[name]Susanna[/name]

[name]Luca[/name]/[name]Luka[/name]
[name]Noah[/name]
[name]Nico[/name]/[name]Niko[/name]
[name]Leo[/name]
[name]Matteo[/name]/[name]Mattheo[/name]/[name]Mateo[/name]/[name]Matheo[/name]
[name]Luc[/name]/[name]Luk[/name]
[name]Ian[/name]
H”go
[name]Ludwig[/name]
[name]Milo[/name]
[name]Alex[/name]
Lias
[name]Hans[/name]
[name]Nicolai[/name]/[name]Nikolai[/name]
[name]Logan[/name]