A double twist: there are German names that look like English names but are actually German names. Michael, Paul.
Just wondering: what would Germans associate with the name Helga for women? To me it sounds Viking-awesome (heiligr).
If you want to name your kids in a way that is compatible without pronounciation issues in the larger Central European area, from Denmark to Hungary or Serbia, there are unfortunately not so many choices. For boys, Robert, Norbert, Henrik and of course the ubiquitous Peter. For girls, Helga, maybe Judit, Eva, Anna, For example something like Catherine is not a very good idea because it is written different in every language, from Katalin to Yekaterina. Anna has only one mutant forms, Anne in English, otherwise quite stable. For boys the stablest name is Norbert it either doesn’t exist in a language or if it does it is written and pronounce exactly the same.
However I think people are becoming more “creative” and less compatibility-oriented with names… I know a German couple living in London who have a son called Yuriy. Reason? Gagarin. “We wanted someone who goes up”. Okay...
A double twist: there are German names that look like English names but are actually German names. Michael, Paul.
Just wondering: what would Germans associate with the name Helga for women? To me it sounds Viking-awesome (heiligr).
If you want to name your kids in a way that is compatible without pronounciation issues in the larger Central European area, from Denmark to Hungary or Serbia, there are unfortunately not so many choices. For boys, Robert, Norbert, Henrik and of course the ubiquitous Peter. For girls, Helga, maybe Judit, Eva, Anna, For example something like Catherine is not a very good idea because it is written different in every language, from Katalin to Yekaterina. Anna has only one mutant forms, Anne in English, otherwise quite stable. For boys the stablest name is Norbert it either doesn’t exist in a language or if it does it is written and pronounce exactly the same.
However I think people are becoming more “creative” and less compatibility-oriented with names… I know a German couple living in London who have a son called Yuriy. Reason? Gagarin. “We wanted someone who goes up”. Okay...
In general people in the creative class do so. It’s not the names the average banker, doctor or judge gives their child.