So I recently read a book by a woman that works at the university in Leipzig, the only university in Germany where you can study Onomastics (the study of names) and she counsels parents with naming their children (my dream job!). She also mentiones the onograms, which is like a diagram for names. I have attached such an onogram below but if it doesn’t work here’s the link to one (unfortunately I only found onograms in [name_m]German[/name_m]):
In such an onogram people are given a name (here it’s [name_m]Maximilian[/name_m]) and they have to decide if the name sounds:
unknown or well known to them
exotic or common
melodious or ugly
masculine or feminine
young or old
tall or short
sporty or not
funny or serious
sassy/cheeky or nice
rich or poor
attractive or not
reliable or not
intelligent or not
The intent of such onograms is to find out if certain names have a certain image in the general public. So I thought we could turn this into a game. I’ll give you the first name and you have to answer the 13 questions above (if you think it’s neither of the two opposites just write neither). Then you have to write down another name for the next person and so on. Have fun!