Top 20 in Germany

General Name Discussion
1

Encouraged through the posts on Dutch and French names I decided to start this one.
[name]Even[/name] though name choice in Germany has become quite international in recent years I thought it might be interesting for you to have a look at the top 20 list of 2008 (taken from a Top 500 ranking on www.beliebte-vornamen.de). As a general pronunciation advice I’ll say that E can be pronounced in three different ways: 1) as in [name]Emma[/name], 2) like an “a” as in “a dog” (mostly in final position) or 3) like something similar to “ay”, but without the diphthong-sound. Now, that sounds super complicated, it”s actually not…

Girls:

  1. [name]Hanna/name [Hunna]
  2. [name]Leonie[/name] [~[name]Lay[/name]-oh-nee]
  3. [name]Lea/name [~[name]Lay[/name]-uh]
  4. [name]Lena[/name] [~[name]Lay[/name]-nuh]
  5. [name]Mia[/name]
  6. [name]Anna[/name] [Un-na]
  7. [name]Emily[/name]/[name]Emilie[/name]
  8. [name]Lara[/name]
  9. [name]Laura[/name] [lou-ra, “lou” as in “loud”]
  10. [name]Sara/name [“Sar” like “bar” + uh]
  11. [name]Emma[/name]
  12. [name]Lilly[/name]/[name]Lilli[/name]/[name]Lily[/name]
  13. [name]Marie[/name]
  14. [name]Lina[/name] [[name]Lee[/name]-na]
  15. [name]Maja[/name]/[name]Maya[/name] [Muh only long + yuh]
  16. [name]Johanna[/name] [[name]Yo[/name]-hunna]
  17. [name]Sophie[/name]/[name]Sofie[/name] [[name]Zo[/name]-fee]
  18. Ne(e)le [~Nayl-a, the second e like “a dog/whatever”]
  19. [name]Sophia[/name]/[name]Sofia[/name] [see 17.]
  20. Am”lie [French pronounciation]

I bet that if you#d count Sphie and [name]Sophia[/name] together that name would be a lot higher! So this might be the real number one.

Boys:

  1. [name]Leon[/name] [~[name]Lay[/name]-on]
  2. [name]Lukas[/name]/[name]Lucas[/name] [a like “uh”]
  3. [name]Luca[/name]/[name]Luka[/name] [see 2.]
  4. [name]Tim/name
  5. [name]Finn[/name]/[name]Fynn[/name]
  6. [name]Luis[/name]/[name]Louis[/name] [probably mostly pronounced [name]Lewis[/name], not the French way]
  7. [name]Jonas[/name] [[name]Yo[/name]-nus, a like “uh”]
  8. [name]Felix[/name] [~[name]Fay[/name]-lix]
  9. [name]Paul[/name] [“au” like “ou” in “loud”
  10. [name]Maximilian[/name] [Muxi-meelyun]
  11. [name]Max[/name] [Mux]
  12. Niklas/[name]Niclas[/name] [[name]Nick[/name]-luss]
  13. [name]Julian[/name] [Yool-yun, Yoo-lee-un]
  14. [name]Ben[/name]
  15. [name]Elias[/name] [[name]Ellee[/name]-us, [name]Ellee[/name]-yus]
  16. [name]Jan[/name] [Yun]
  17. [name]Noah[/name]
  18. [name]Moritz[/name] [short o]
  19. [name]Philip/name
  20. Janni(c)k/[name]Yanni/namek [Yun-nick]
2

I love a lot of names from this list! [name]Lena[/name], [name]Mia[/name], [name]Anna[/name], [name]Emma[/name], [name]Marie[/name], [name]Sophie[/name], [name]Sofia[/name].
For boys: [name]Lukas[/name]/[name]Lucas[/name], [name]Luka[/name]/[name]Luca[/name], [name]Jonas[/name].

I think a lot of names are pronounced the same as in Dutch, so it was nice reading this list! I didn’t have to try super hard to come up with the [name]German[/name] pronounciation haha.

I love how there are Top 20 Name topics from different countries now! Some names seem to be popular just about everywhere ([name]Sophie[/name]/[name]Sofia[/name], [name]Emma[/name], [name]Anna[/name])

3

My favorites from this list -

[name]Lea[/name]
[name]Leonie[/name]
[name]Mia[/name]
[name]Lara[/name]
[name]Lily[/name]
[name]Marie[/name]
[name]Sophie[/name]
[name]Sophia[/name]
[name]Johanna[/name]

[name]Leon[/name]
[name]Luca[/name]
[name]Finn[/name]
[name]Felix[/name]
[name]Max[/name]
[name]Julian[/name]

Wow, I like a lot!

4

[name]Tim[/name] is unusual, isn’t it?
I am enjoying this international discovery channel of yours!

5

[name]Tim[/name] is pretty usual…:slight_smile: in elemantary school have been 4 and now in high school there are at least two in every year…^^ I love that my name is the number eight on the list, even though it’s rarely heard here. (I am from germany)! :slight_smile:

6

[name]Marie[/name] and [name]Lara[/name] really surprised me! Well, good for them for not using [name]Marie[/name] as a middle name. [name]Tim[/name] kind of surprised me to . . . just [name]Tim[/name] and not [name]Timothy[/name]? I like the name [name]Jonas[/name] but would never use it because of the [name]Jonas[/name] Brothers association.

7

Well, [name]Marie[/name] is used as a middle name very often, as is [name]Sophie[/name]. I think they counted them too for this list. I even know a baby girl named [name]Sophie[/name] [name]Marie[/name] (which are both prounced with a long ee-sound) and while I like both names I think the combination is like a no-name in a way.
[name]Tim[/name] has been popular for quite a while here, a neighbor of mine is named [name]Tim[/name], too. On the other hand I’ve never heard of a [name]German[/name] called [name]Timothy[/name] (it’s number 491 in 2008) - probably because it’s to hard to pronounce. People also frequently name their children [name]Timo[/name] (Tee-mo), [name]Tom[/name], [name]Nick[/name] or [name]Nico[/name] (Nee-co). Those last two names are a lot higher on the list than the full name [name]Nicholas[/name]/[name]Nikolas[/name]/[name]Nicolas[/name].