Hello berries!
I have a social studies project coming up, and I’m still looking for names.
The time period is 1880-1913 and 1917-1921.
Does anyone have suggestions for [name_m]German[/name_m] names that were popular (in Germany) in these time periods?
Additional question- how about [name_f]Adela[/name_f]? I know her origin is [name_m]German[/name_m], but was she popular in these time periods?
Thank you in advance for the help, it’s much appreciated!
[name_m]Hi[/name_m]! I’m an archivist by day so I’m happy to give my two cents. For queries like this I suggest using an Ancestry database (your local library probably has a subscription). I put in a search simply for women of [name_m]German[/name_m] nationality who came to the US in the late 1890s.
I did find several examples of Adela and [name_f]Adele[/name_f], so I think using that name would be accurate. In a quick survey, Anna, Bertha, Clara, Maria, and Martha look very common. There were also [name_m]German[/name_m] variations on familiar names like Mathilde, Kathe, and Freida.
[name_f]Happy[/name_f] sleuthing!
This is a reference I’ve used over the years for stories etc.! Hopefully it’s useful to you as well. Don’t quote me on this, but my understanding is that [name_f]Germany[/name_f] didn’t start keeping records of names until very recently (if at all - last I knew, they still didn’t publish an official list, but that was about 5 years ago that I really looked into it). However, from what I understand, the man who runs this website has searched hundreds of birth announcements/genealogy records etc. and produced this list as accurately as he can. [name_f]Adela[/name_f] isn’t listed on the top 30 that he shared for 1890-1913, but it definitely does have [name_m]German[/name_m] origins and I’m sure it’s possible that it was used back then!
I love that this website gives records by decade so you can see what was popular throughout each year/decade. Hopefully it helps you find something that works for your project! It also might be worth trying to find any WWII holocaust records; I’m almost certain I’ve seen [name_f]Adela[/name_f] and some of her variants on the wall of the holocaust museum in [name_m]Washington[/name_m], D.C. - although, again, it’s been years since I’ve been there. I would imagine that many of those involved in those records would have been born during the first period you mentioned at the very least.
Good luck!