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And celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck who's Austrian. Actress Susan Lucci's late husband's name was Helmut. And there was a German chancellor in the 90s named Helmet Schroder
I had the opposite experience when I moved to an English-speaking country: I couldn't believe there were young people called Gretchen (with an English pronunciation) and they were not aware that it is such an old-fashioned name in Germany. Also so many women had what I would consider family names as first names, such as Mackenzie or Turner!
I know exactly what youo mean. Turner I have come to turns through american Series, Stories and Movies, but Mackenzie is still way too weird. Also legacy names ending with a roman numeral is just way too weird for me 😆
It seems just as weird to me giving a child the name of a profession (which can also be a surname) such as Taylor, Hunter, Piper, etc. or that of a place, Tennessee, Chelsea ...
To the name "Helmut" there is an older movie from the 80s "Night on earth" where really an american and a Helmut are drivin in a taxi having the same assossiations like you with the "helmet". You have to see it... here is this scene also on CZcams: " Night on Earth by Jim Jarmusch, NY scene (HD)"
There are many "strange" names depending on which country one comes from, not only Germany.
Před rokem+7
Wolfgang… Amadeus Mozart. Badass composer :D Also: Eddie Van Halen's son is named Wolfgang (after Mozart). Nicknames *for* Wolfgang (it's a bit long for everyday casual use ;-)): Wolf, Wolle…
I'm surprised the name Wolfgang didn't make you think of Mozart! It's still a popular name in Austria. My brother in law is a Wolfgang, his daugher married another (my husband calls him "the new one") and her son has Wolfgang as his middle name.
@@user-ok1vf6qx4k One of the most famous american movies about Mozart is titled "Amadeus", definitely more catchy than Wolfgang ; ) I just don't think they have taught people the story about his amazing talent (you know, Wunderkind, his sister etc etc). Just as most people worldwide doesn't know that Chopin was polish and emigrated to France (not to mention why he moved).
@@user-ok1vf6qx4k Oh, I am definitely not excusing them!! I am just trying to logically explain why it may happened? Personally I was always taught the full names of the artists (with pseudonyms if they had any) in my country in Europe.
Schön, dass hier so viele Mozart nennen, aber man kann sogar einen Deutschen Star bemühen, - nö, nicht Petry -, sondern Goethe. Wolfgang ist ein seit dem Frühmittelalter belegter Name.
First grade in school. Teacher asking the pupils for their names. "My name is Achim." one boy says. The teacher: "Fine. That is short for Joachim." The next one: "My name is Hannes." The teacher: "OK, Hannes is short for Johannes." Next child: "I'm Kurt, but I guess my full name is Joghurt."
Many German names like Hella or Uwe are actually shortenings of other names. Hella is the short of Helena and Uwe is the short form of Ulrich. Other examples are variations of - Heinrich like Heinz, Henrik, Hendrik or Heiko etc. - Johannes like Johann, Jan, Jens etc. - Georg like Jörg, Jörn, Jürgen etc. - Maria like Maike, Mareika, Marietta etc. - Rudolf like Rolf, Ralf, Ralph, Rudi etc. The list goes on. If someone want to add, please free to do so.
Dietrich („der Mächtige im Volke“ The Powerful from the people, „der Herrscher des Volkes“ - The Ruler of the people) - Dieter, Dierk (more north german, The Nederlands), Dirk
"Silke" is originally Frisian and it was originally just the Frisian shortform for the Latin name Caecilia derived from the 3rd century christian martyr "Saint Caecilia" "Hella" is originally a nordic name/Old Norse (actually an alternative form/nickname for the name Helga) and the female version for the male name Helge....both meaning "Blessed" (by the Nordic gods) "Uwe" is also Frisian but originally directly derived from Old Norse as well...the meaning is kinda "the active one/the reckless one/the venturous one"..basically describing the attitude of a viking "Helmut" is here the only "actual German name" besides of "Wolfgang" which you already rightfully explained the meaning in the vlog ... "Helmut" is derived from "Old High German" ..and the meaning is actually kinda "battle or fighting spirit/battle or fighting mood/battle or fighting mind" because the first part "Hel" is derived from the Old High German term "hiltja" meaning "battle/fight" ..and the second part "mut" is derived from the Old High German term "mout" meaning "spirit/mood/mind" = originally "Hilmout" which became then "Helmut".... basically describing the attitude of a warrior.... The meaning of "Pride Protector" I have never heard and might be just a very loose interpretation of "a warrior with fighting spirit" (it is a very loose interpretation = because you have to think about it "across 5 corners" so to say ..meaning a warrior with fighting spirit might be "proud" as well - but premised if he is victorious... and he might be capable for the role as a "protector" as well - but premised if he is a loyal warrior...but honestly there are too many "premised ifs" for my taste in order to make a serious case.) but the meaning "pride protector" - and now follows the valid point - has definitively no - "actual linguistic trace in the actual name Helmut".
Das ist sehr witzig, was für Assoziationen du als English native speaker bei diesen Namen hast, die für mich alle ganz normal sind. Ich als Deutsche denke natürlich bei Silke nicht an Seide und bei Hella nicht an Hölle! 🤣 Du hast allerdings einige Namen falsch ausgesprochen. Du hast immer Wulfgang gesagt und nicht Wolfgang. Und Silke wie alle anderen nordischen Vornamen, die auf -ke enden, wird am Ende mit einem kurzen, unbetonten e gesprochen und das S am Anfang spricht man weich, also stimmhaft. Und Helmut spricht man mit einem langen, aber unbetonten u in der zweiten Silbe. Du und viele andere Expats neigt dazu, deutsche Eigennamen und auch andere Vokabeln einfach englisch auszusprechen. Das geht natürlich nicht, denn wir haben ja ganz andere Lautregeln!
Hella - die germanische Todesgöttin ("Hella halte mich fest!"). Der Zusammenhang mit Hölle ist soooweit gar nicht hergeholt, der mit Helena scheint schwieriger, aber auch nicht ganz unmöglich.
I can't believe you've never heard of the world famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 😯 It's as if we Germans had never heard of William Shakespeare ;-)
Hannelore always sounded weird to me as a foreigner, as we don't have many "double" names here in Poland, but we do have some strange diminutives (at least strange for others). It's not easy to explain that Ola is Aleksandra, Asia is Joanna or Kuba is Jakub. To make it easier I always tell english speakers: you have Dick from Richard and Bill from William, it's the same logic ; )
I have never heard the english examples before. Sounds so weird to me. But also the polish ones aswell. Why do names have shorter names that haven nothing with each other in common? 😅 I only know that when you are named Aleksander or Aleksandra the short name is Sasha/Sascha
@@1Jasmin Sasha is russian : > but from what I've read those forms used in polish were influenced by other languages like eastern slavic (russian/ukrainian). I have also found that in medieval times there were names Oleksander/Oleksandra, so it may be connected to that also. But it is interesting, like in Poland we use Iza for Izabela, when I found that in english Bella is more popular. Also found: Dick is a nickname most often for Richard, which likely originated in the Middle Ages as rhyming slang for "Rick", as did William → Will → Bill and Robert → Rob → Bob. People are weird : D but I love how flexible languages are, it's beautiful.
@@1Jasmin: Hans, Hanns, Hannes, Johann, Johannes, John ( in friesian region) are the same name. Uli, Ulli, Ullrich, Huldrich, Huldreich are also the same. Heinrich/ Heinz, Friedrich/ Fritz/ Frieder/ Friederich, Werner/ Wernher, Peter/Pit. There is often a shorter version of german mens name, some are used only when spoken, for example my father Hermann is called sometimes Hemme by his friends.
How come Hella didn't make you think of Ella or Hellen or Helen? 😃 It is a name that finds its root in the Greek Ελένη and it means, as you rightfully said, bright light. That is my name too, but I am Italian, and so it became Elena
When you mention "Uwe" I also have to think about the German male name of "Ulf", which I find especially funny, because "going to the toilet and shouting for Ulf" is a phrase to describe vomiting, as the sound of the name is quite similar to the sound you make when vomiting.
As a child, I found the name Wolfgang very strange, too! Did not even believe it was a real name at first. But as a child, I also found it super strange that English speaking people would call their kids Dick or Bart! :D But Uwe sounds very down-to-earth to me, it's not a high-class name. Many of the strange-sounding names have Germanic origins (and are quite old-fashioned, those names were popular for centuries but then got really out of style about 60-70 years ago, maybe because of the Germanic hype of the Third Reich). But a few have made a comeback; I've met young Wolfgangs and Friedrichs and so on. I doubt that names like Eberhard, Günther or Edeltraut will come back soon, though :D Others are nordic. I did not know this about the name Uwe because I live in the North and funnily all Uwes I've met are from the South! There are some older English names that sound quite unreal or a bit ridiculous for German ears, too! Sometimes they sound like someone just made them up :D
Eberhard(t), Günther and Edeltraut, yeah pretty oldfashioned, just like Hildegard, Brunhilde and Hedwig. although Hedwig kinda got a new sound to it, due to it being the name of Harry Potters Owl. The rest though are considered extremely oldfashioned if not ancient. 😄
Es gibt einen schönen Comedyfilm :"Eurotrip". Der Film fängt an über einen US Amerikaner, der einen deutschen E-Mail Brieffreund hat. Da gibt es einige Verwechselungen bezüglich deutscher Vornamen. Ich finde den Film sehenswert.
An unusual name for me even as a German is the name Wolfram as a male given name, which is also common as a family name. It means the wolf and the raven from hraban = the raven (Old High German). Wolfram in German also means the metal tungsten. The metal name Wolfram in German comes from the name element wolf which eats the tin ore as if it were a sheep. A discovery of the Freiberg researcher Georgius Agricola. Ram probably means soot or dirt because the black-gray mineral is very easy to grind and then reminds of soot. Many names seem strange but their different origins explain a lot.
I had a similar experience at my exchange semester in Denmark last autumn when I met I guy from Australia called Zack. I asked him is Zack your real name because I thought this must be a nickname.
Wolfgang was my grandpa's name 🤣 When we had our kids, we decided to give them names that would work in German as well as English to give them options later in life.
Hi Antoinette, at this very moment I did what I never thought I would do: I subscribed to a (in this case your) CZcams channel because I felt it was right. And I am eagerly waiting for your mother to come to Germany cause that will be a lot of fun. Hi from Berin
For me it was Ute, Gudrun, Jutta ( at first I used to pronounce it like the state of Utah) Jochen, also Uwe and Helmut. Now they're just normal names to me, but I've been living in Germany for 13 years now:)
Quite funny to listen to your associations. Wolfgang is a normal, common name, my brother's name, middle name of my brother in law. Whose first name is Hel(l)mut(h), as was my father's name. Silke and Uwe also in my family, the most famous Uwe was late footballer Uwe Seeler. In your little pictures was one Uwe I know since university. :)) Both names are northern/ Niederdeutsch origin, as my first name, not heard so very often. Could be the next misunderstanding for you.: )
I live in the states now and there are americans with the name wolfgang. we saw Vanhalen in concert and ededie vanhalens son is wolfgand- wolfie. In germany i knew a few and of course Mozart. and i went to school with a girl named silke. and i have an onkle Helmut. the others not so much :))
A few of those names you'll encounter in The Netherlands as well. I don't know whether they came from German(y) originally or that it is just because the languages and countries are so close.
When you listed Silke I jumped out of my chair! I had a German pen-pal named Silke in the late '80s. I thought it was an amazing name! Never heard it since. Great video 😁
@@EgoundderRest I guess you are in the north of Germany. I was born in Bavaria in 1971 and my parents chose a rare name (at least they tried). Then moved to the north...
Hella ist die Kurzform für Helene , Helga. Sonst kenne ich Hella von Sinnen, das ist nur ein Künstlername und die Firma Hella welche Scheinwerfer herstellt.
All of these names are very common where I live, except for "Hella". This one always sounded unusual to me, too. When I hear it, it makes me think of Hella von Sinnen first, and next of a scene in a German movie, that I watched ages ago, I don't remember the name, though: a woman was dying and was trying to tell everyone, that a woman named "Hella" (who I think was in the room with them) had attacked her. But the people thought she was saying "heller" ("brighter") instead and tried to make as much light in the room as possible to soothe her in her last moments. Uwe to me isn't a "posh" name at all, though.😅
This video was great fun for me! Thanks! By the way: Uwe isn´t an upperclass name at all. It just was very very common name in the 1950s and 60s. And concerning the name Wolfgang: You pronounce the word Wolf English.
One of my first names is Ute. I used to travel a lot internationally and as most people had real difficulties with pronouncing and remembering my name I started using my second first name Susanne. However when I was in New Zealand I soon found out that a ute is not a person‘s name ….. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 so I was Susan from then on.😅 Lucky that my parents gave me a couple of first names to choose from 🥂
That was my experience in Australia when I saw signs at the street saying "Rent a Ute" I was completely flabbergasted and felt, that it can not be what it indicates... So I learned a new English word "utility car" 😂😂😂😂
Před rokem+1
My first name up there is… well, I have two siblings, neither of which has an umlaut. :D But I can't use my umlaut-less second name since it comes from my godfather, a man I never got along with. Just don't like him. So, that one's *so* out (also, I'm not from Tyrol… ;-))
Concerning Helmut: I recommend the great movie "Night on Earth" by Jim Jarmush. It is a compilation of 5 or 6 situations in different cities at night in a taxi. In the New York part you'll have a Helmut /helmet. 😊🙋♀ (btw The Paris part is my favorite)
I'm german, 45y - I never herd of anyone named Hella, except for Hella von Sinnen - an artists name so I always though this was an artificial name. thanks for teaching me otherwise. Helmut on the other hand was the name of my beloved grandfather...
While stationed in Germany many years ago I had a girl friend name Helmtraut (first name) Not sure if that's the correct spelling. But we parted (not because of her name, but because I rotated back to the US)
Wolfgang, Silke, Hella, Uwe, Helmut, I actually know or met people with these names, family, school friends and colleagues. Unusual names? Karl-Heinz,Dieter,Liselotte, Friedhelm, … so many “older“ names to choose from…
My husband is Hans-Dieter and he has two other friends named Hans, different middle names though.He also has a friend named Dieter. I think it is probably considered old fashioned.I love the name Liselotte, so pretty.
Helmut Schmidt (German chancellor), Helmut Kohl (German chancellor), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (no explanation needed), Wolfgang Petersen (director of "Das Boot", "Outbreak", "Air Force One"......), Uwe Seeler (football player) - so no surprise for those with a little general knowledge of sports, politics and the arts, especially when you are born before 1970...... But it is true, nowadays newborns will not be given any of these names. I know people with all 5 names and they all are older than 45. The same is true for Meike, Heike, Heiko, Sönke, Anke, Hilke, Frauke, Hauke etc. unless maybe you're born near the coast of the North Sea.... "Uwe" is actually the same as "Ubbe" - the son of Ragnar Lothbrok.....
Meike, Anke, Hilke, Frauke are still not uncommon in Northern Germany and you need not reach the sea to find them. ;) But yes, currently there is a decline.
@@marge2548 Some of those -ke names sound nice, but the names Frauke = Frauchen or Wiebke = Weibchen give me sort of an eerie feeling when I think of their meaning.
@@magmalin Growing up in Northern Germany, where these names were frequent at that time, that never occurred to me. However, thinking about it now, that might indeed be another reason why especially these two are not so popular anymore. :)
Der Name "Hela" kommt von "Hellena", die aus dem altgriechischen Geschichte kommt und als die berühte "schöne Hellana" bei allen gebildeteren Menschen gut bekannt ist.
If you think don't think Helmut is a funny name you should watch Night On Earth from Jim Jarmusch. In one of the episodes Armin Müller-Stahl plays Helmut, a taxi driver in New York.
Your video was so funny. I'm glad I watched it. I really enjoyed your perspective of our beautiful names and your interesting accent. My Vattis 1st name is Eberhard and one of his middle names is Wolfgang. 🌲☀️
This reminds me, my baby is called Rowan. I'm German and live in the UK. Because my German grandma struggles with his name we looked at the German meaning of Rowan. This is actually Eberesche. So Eberhard is probably the closest to that.
@ulrikecaplin1854 Fascinating!, no matter where I happened to be born I'll be German. I can't help it if I wasn't born in Silesia ( Schlesien), where my dad was, as well as many other great Germans like the famous musician Kurt Masur and scientist Werner von Braun. However I can choose to be German FOREVER. I personally prefer German language and names above all others. I'm very delighted in my relatives very beautiful Germanic names. Interestingly I meet Latinos and others who've adopted German names. I deeply resent my father for not making me bilingual fluent in German as a little boy. I meet so many people who are bi and tri lingual since their youth. Prost 🌲🌟
The only name that threw me until I heard it a few times was Wiebke. But now it seems so normal. I grew up with the name Catia (Italian)in the US. Which is Katja in German and Katya in Russian. I still hate my name over 50 years later. 😂
I was astonished about marking the name Hella as every-day-name. Is it the case in the south of Germany? I'm from Niedersachsen originally, have lived in Thüringen, now in Sachsen and I've never met a person with this name. I only know Hella von Sinnen. And yeah, I know that the name exists but as I said I've never met a Hella.
Sure, it can be the short nick name form of Helena but it also can be the actual original name. There's so many different names people choose it's unbelievable.
Really now uncommon female first names were apparently very popular in the 19th century and kept cropping up in our family tree of the time: "Wolke" and "Engel"(Cloud and Angel)
I think Silke isn't outdated, Helmut perhaps, Wolfgang - I don't think so, nor Uwe. None of those names have been very frequent in the past 50 years. Some more particular German names are Berthold, Friedhold, Eberhard, Gottfried, Winfried, Gotthold, Gottmar Waldemar, Walburga, Siglinde, Hildegard (Hilda, Hilde, Hille), Horst, Silja, Kunigunde, Armin, Arnulf, Arnold, Adelheid, Gertrude, Trudhilde, Freya, Manfred. I think all of them are Germanic names which could appear in a similar form in Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Belgium. Due to Klinsmann and Klopp the name Jürgen might be more familiar in the USA and England - still strange just for its Umlaut ü.
my Father was a Helmut, I know you pronaunce the name like most englixh speakers but in Germen it a emphasis in the U than it does not sound as much like a helet anymore.
Well. I would like to hear what you think about my mom’s first name, Bernwarda. Her friends called her Berta. I moved to Canada in 2005 and 2019 to Panama. Every time I applied for residency, same question: Is this your mother’s real name or nickname? - Story goes that in my families history there was a “Holy or Saint Bernward”. I put it in brackets, because depending who you asked , they even told me as a kid that he was a Pope….. Sure everyone knows how stories get to that. 😅 Anyway. My mom got his name, and because she was female, they put an “a” on the ending to fit. - Other way around regarding first names. I never get over the name “Darcy” in North America. I never had an idea, who the people talk about. Is it a woman or a man? Because in our friendship circle we had both. A woman and a man with that name. And a funny story at the end. I was in hospital in Canada. On the day of my release, I was still weak on my legs and had to go from one hospital to a different one for surgery. So I had to get dressed again. “No problem. Joe, your driver will help you…” I’m in the hospital shirt everyone knows, with the back open. I try to get up to put my Flipflops on. Well. Joe started whistle behind me. What the …. I turned around. Joe was a woman…. 😮
Hello Antoinette, my name is Trudi and I called my daughter Heidi after my favourite childhood book. I am from Christchurch, New Zealand and now live in Melbourne Australia. Do you hear these names often in Germany? We are of German descent. My great-grandfather came from Bremen, Niedersachsen. Our names often get mixed up with each other. Love your videos. You are so bright and lovely.
Heidi is becoming more popular, but it‘s not commonly used. I never met or heard of a Trudi, so it‘s probably very unique and not often used in Germany. When you want to check yourself, type in „Beliebte Vornamen Deutschland“
Good afternoon from Edmonton, Kentucky, U.S.A. My grandfather’s oldest uncle’s name was Franz Killian Blehl (his last name was pronounced with a soft e and a silent h). He was born in Karlsruhe, Baden-Wurtemburg in the mid 1840’s. Opa, Oma, and Uncle Franz were part of the big group who emigrated, called the “48er’s” (sp?). They settled in Philadelphia. Older half-brother, younger brother, younger sister, and I were the first of that branch of the family to not have been born in Philadelphia.
The "h" has a function: after a vowel, it means, the said vowel has to be spoken a bit longer than normal. So a German, who hears that name would write it with the "h" or at least ask, if there is one
@@Hundert1 hello to you too! I am a transplanted Jersey girl. In 1924, my grandparents moved their family to the Washington Heights neighborhood. Dad’s and Uncle’s National Guard unit was housed in the building that is now called “The Armory”. After WWII, the family moved to NJ. I have very few German words in my repertoire. The only word to have survived to my generation was saying “Gesundheit!” after someone else sneezed.
@@kilsestoffel3690 thank you! That is very interesting to know that the h has a purpose. My grandfather would tell people his last name rhymed with . I guess he had gotten tired of people pronouncing our name as “Bleel” or “Blay’ el” or trying to pronounce the h.
@@amethystanne4586 Lol hahaha, what about Dankeschön and Kindergarten? And Wasser ( water ) and hungrig ( hungry) their not too far off. Englisch is a Germanic language after all. Prost 🍻🍺🌻🌲
Interesting observations, but all these names are common here - they just have not translation to the English-speaking world, like Johann (John). There are quite a few names from Germanic origin, starting for instance with Wolf-, Rain-, Rich-, Hilde- and ending on -gard, -fried, -gang, -mut, -hold, -hart. I had two Wolfgangs in my class, around 1970. OTOH, there are some English names totally uncommon to me, e.g. Garry (Normannic) and Barry (Gaelic).
@@jessicaely2521 Unbeknownst to me, Garrett corresponds to German "Gerhard" (*), Gareth (formerly Guerehet) may have the same roots(?), while Garrison is "son of Ger(h)ard". (*) Ger- belongs in my list above, meaning "spear". Looks like "Old French" language links the Normans and the Germans... Interesting news, thanks!
Well there are a few more that are even on the rise again. My neighbour named her son Hektor and her second Johann. These boys' names are rather old-fashioned. The wife of one of our cousins named her son Viktor. My father has a very strange name, like so many of our family, he was also called Bohlke. That's a very old name that my great-great-great-great-grandfather's father-in-law left to his grandson. That was in 1728.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart I like your pronunciation. only with Helmut, I would recommend you to say it as if written "Hellmoot". It would not sound like Helmet.
Dieter ist, glaube ich, so ein Name, den es nur auf deutsch gibt, oder Jutta. Es gibt sicherlich noch mehr Beispiele für solche Namen. Die moderne Babynamen, die man heute vergibt, sind überwiegend international gebräuchliche Namen.
Moin Connie. Wolfgang, Uwe, Silke hatte ich in der Schule in einer meiner Klassen. Besonders an die Silke erinnere ich mich. Blonde Haare, braune Augen. Sehr süß. Nur dass ich damals zu schüchtern war. Und in meiner Nachbarschaft, bei meinem Elternhaus, wohnten eine Regina, eine Cornelia, und die Schwestern Renate und Astrid.. Ich weiß schon, warum ich mich in den sozialen Medien das Mikro benenne und nicht Klaus-Peter. LOL! Schöne Woche dir jo, da kann also Siri nicht einmal meinen Kanal Namen richtig aussprechen! Das Mino! Hast du’s jetzt?😅❤
Meine Mutter heißt Jutta, als Kurzform von Juditka (Kleine Judith). Varianten des Namens finden sich im Hebräischen (Jutta/Juda als Ortsname) und im Nordischen als Form von "Jütin" (also eine Frau aus Jütland). Dieter ist echt typisch für den deutschen Sprachraum, allerdings habe ich die Langform Dietrich auch schon in England gehört, wobei Namen wie Lotti, Gretchen, Ferdinand usw. dort eher eine Modeerscheinung sind.
This reminds me of hearing the name Eugene (in english pronaunced) in a movie once. He sounded really great to me. Then I thought about how to spell the name. In Germany he is then called Eugen. That's not great then. (Apologies to anyone with that name. Isn't personal!)
my cousin named her 3rd kid Eugene - and my grandma always had a huge issue remembering the name of her grandson until I spelled it out for her. - 'oh, das ist ein Eugen mit nem e zuviel. das kann ich mir merken.' :D
I had a Silke in my high school class in the early 1970s. It was an unusual name. It sounds quite northern - the -ke ending is definitely a northern diminutive. "Hella" is a variant of "Helene", but not that popular. Indeed the association with "hell" works, yes. "Uwe" sounds northern as well. A ususal name. It happens. Helmut. I had a friend with that name, a quite awkward person, so...
Silke is also the name of a seal man in Norwegian folklore. The seal trransforms himself into a man and woos a maiden, but he is killed by a harpoon fisherman later. There's even a song called "The Great Silkie 9sealkie)
"Uwe" is a Northern German name. I think there is a Danish variety Ove (with the O having a slash - I cannot reproduce that on my keyboard). One of the more strange German names for me was my late father's name "Norbert" - which I always translated as "Northern beard" - but apparently it means "a bright Shine in the North" (Northern lights, maybe?) - which is actually really nice. Anyway, I really loved my father dearly, but his name never sounded friendly to my ears. And I always, even when I was little, wondered why anyone would name their kids like that.
@@joergfro7149 ah, ok… aparently each website you look at gives a slightly different meaning. I cannot even tell you why I never liked it. Both of its meanings are fine. Nonetheless, to me it sounds odd.
The Danish version Ove isn't written with a slash, it"s actually Ove, not Øve. I kmow a few German men with the name Ove (it's a common name in northern Germany, although not as common as Uwe.)
Wo es viele "Norbert" gibt, kann man damit rechnen, daß es dort mal ein Prämonstratenserkloster gegeben hat. Wo es auffällig viele "Nikolaus" und "Barbara" gibt, ist Steinkohlebergbau zu vermuten.
@@jrgptr935 Ah, interessant. Ich vermute, auch anderer Bergbau, oder? In der Gegend in Slowenien, wo meine mütterliche Verwandtschaft gestammt, heißt gefühlt jede dritte Frau und jedes dritte Mädchen Barbara - und in der Region gab es früher Bergbau - aber für Eisenerz. Andererseits hat mein Wohnort am Niederrhein eine St. Nikolaus-Kirche und hatte bis vor einigen Jahren eine St.Barbara Schule - ohne jeglichen Bergbau im weiten Umkreis.
Wait until she actually discovers what so many really old names mean, like old aunt Gertrud. That's the name we gave our old cat and she lived up to it, even if the cat never really needed a spear for anything.
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Interesting to hear about your associations with these names. The bit about Wolfgang surprised me a little, because of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Me too.
And me.
Of course.
Everybody knows the name
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
So Wolfgang is the name of the famoust musician ever
And celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck who's Austrian. Actress Susan Lucci's late husband's name was Helmut. And there was a German chancellor in the 90s named Helmet Schroder
@@danielleporter1829 Not to forget Helmut Schmidt, another chancellor.
I had the opposite experience when I moved to an English-speaking country: I couldn't believe there were young people called Gretchen (with an English pronunciation) and they were not aware that it is such an old-fashioned name in Germany. Also so many women had what I would consider family names as first names, such as Mackenzie or Turner!
The English pronunciation of "Gretchen" sounds extremely weird to me.
I know exactly what youo mean. Turner I have come to turns through american Series, Stories and Movies, but Mackenzie is still way too weird. Also legacy names ending with a roman numeral is just way too weird for me 😆
...and Gretchen is not only oldfashioned, but it is the kiddyversion of the abreviation of 'Margarete' - so it' s not even a real name at all
Exactly, genau, stimmt 💯 It's really fascinating the different names people adopt. Schönen Wochenstart ☀️ 🌲
It seems just as weird to me giving a child the name of a profession (which can also be a surname) such as Taylor, Hunter, Piper, etc. or that of a place, Tennessee, Chelsea ...
To the name "Helmut" there is an older movie from the 80s "Night on earth" where really an american and a Helmut are drivin in a taxi having the same assossiations like you with the "helmet". You have to see it... here is this scene also on CZcams: " Night on Earth by Jim Jarmusch, NY scene (HD)"
We had 2 Chancellors named Helmut: Helmut Schmidt and Helmut Kohl! Uwe is also in Danish, but written as Ove.
The English word helmet is actually not that far away from the meaning "protector" too. I think, they are going back to the same root.
There are many "strange" names depending on which country one comes from, not only Germany.
Wolfgang… Amadeus Mozart. Badass composer :D Also: Eddie Van Halen's son is named Wolfgang (after Mozart).
Nicknames *for* Wolfgang (it's a bit long for everyday casual use ;-)): Wolf, Wolle…
I'm surprised the name Wolfgang didn't make you think of Mozart! It's still a popular name in Austria. My brother in law is a Wolfgang, his daugher married another (my husband calls him "the new one") and her son has Wolfgang as his middle name.
@@user-ok1vf6qx4k One of the most famous american movies about Mozart is titled "Amadeus", definitely more catchy than Wolfgang ; ) I just don't think they have taught people the story about his amazing talent (you know, Wunderkind, his sister etc etc).
Just as most people worldwide doesn't know that Chopin was polish and emigrated to France (not to mention why he moved).
@PropertyOfK ....I'm getting Your point but come on...to not know that Mozarts first name was Wolfgang is a bit ...ignorant. 😉
@@user-ok1vf6qx4k Oh, I am definitely not excusing them!! I am just trying to logically explain why it may happened?
Personally I was always taught the full names of the artists (with pseudonyms if they had any) in my country in Europe.
@PropertyOfK Yes, I see. It's just so strange to me, that someone does not know such things. 🤷♀️
Schön, dass hier so viele Mozart nennen, aber man kann sogar einen Deutschen Star bemühen, - nö, nicht Petry -, sondern Goethe. Wolfgang ist ein seit dem Frühmittelalter belegter Name.
First grade in school. Teacher asking the pupils for their names.
"My name is Achim." one boy says. The teacher: "Fine. That is short for Joachim."
The next one: "My name is Hannes." The teacher: "OK, Hannes is short for Johannes."
Next child: "I'm Kurt, but I guess my full name is Joghurt."
I love how you speak about the names and how they sounded to your ear in a really sweet, funny and non offensive way!
Ever heard of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? What?😄
Yep, little lake of common knowledge.
Many German names like Hella or Uwe are actually shortenings of other names. Hella is the short of Helena and Uwe is the short form of Ulrich. Other examples are variations of
- Heinrich like Heinz, Henrik, Hendrik or Heiko etc.
- Johannes like Johann, Jan, Jens etc.
- Georg like Jörg, Jörn, Jürgen etc.
- Maria like Maike, Mareika, Marietta etc.
- Rudolf like Rolf, Ralf, Ralph, Rudi etc.
The list goes on. If someone want to add, please free to do so.
I only know Ulli as a short form for Ulrich. Uwe is a frisian name, related to the Danish Ove.
Dietrich („der Mächtige im Volke“ The Powerful from the people, „der Herrscher des Volkes“ - The Ruler of the people) - Dieter, Dierk (more north german, The Nederlands), Dirk
@@claudiakarl7888 Exactly. Maik or Maike are Frisian names, too.
Ralf is actually a shortened form of Randolph, which _might_ or might not be related to Rudolph.
Hella ist Hella, wie die Göttin. Und von Johannes fehlen, erstaunlich, die gebräuchlichsten Formen, nämlich Hans, Hennes etcetera.
Hella and Hilla used to be popular abbreviations for Hildegard.
Das Gegenteil von Helmut ist Dunkelangst 😜👍🏻
Rather Dunkelfeigheit
@@Maverrick2140schafstand
"Silke" is originally Frisian and it was originally just the Frisian shortform for the Latin name Caecilia derived from the 3rd century christian martyr "Saint Caecilia"
"Hella" is originally a nordic name/Old Norse (actually an alternative form/nickname for the name Helga) and the female version for the male name Helge....both meaning "Blessed" (by the Nordic gods)
"Uwe" is also Frisian but originally directly derived from Old Norse as well...the meaning is kinda "the active one/the reckless one/the venturous one"..basically describing the attitude of a viking
"Helmut" is here the only "actual German name" besides of "Wolfgang" which you already rightfully explained the meaning in the vlog ...
"Helmut" is derived from "Old High German" ..and the meaning is actually kinda "battle or fighting spirit/battle or fighting mood/battle or fighting mind" because the first part "Hel" is derived from the Old High German term "hiltja" meaning "battle/fight" ..and the second part "mut" is derived from the Old High German term "mout" meaning "spirit/mood/mind" = originally "Hilmout" which became then "Helmut".... basically describing the attitude of a warrior....
The meaning of "Pride Protector" I have never heard and might be just a very loose interpretation of "a warrior with fighting spirit" (it is a very loose interpretation = because you have to think about it "across 5 corners" so to say ..meaning a warrior with fighting spirit might be "proud" as well - but premised if he is victorious... and he might be capable for the role as a "protector" as well - but premised if he is a loyal warrior...but honestly there are too many "premised ifs" for my taste in order to make a serious case.) but the meaning "pride protector" - and now follows the valid point - has definitively no - "actual linguistic trace in the actual name Helmut".
I love how your perspective changed so drastically, sometime 180 degrees, as you learned the meanings of the names and met lovely people 🙂
Das ist sehr witzig, was für Assoziationen du als English native speaker bei diesen Namen hast, die für mich alle ganz normal sind.
Ich als Deutsche denke natürlich bei Silke nicht an Seide und bei Hella nicht an Hölle! 🤣
Du hast allerdings einige Namen falsch ausgesprochen. Du hast immer Wulfgang gesagt und nicht Wolfgang. Und Silke wie alle anderen nordischen Vornamen, die auf -ke enden, wird am Ende mit einem kurzen, unbetonten e gesprochen und das S am Anfang spricht man weich, also stimmhaft.
Und Helmut spricht man mit einem langen, aber unbetonten u in der zweiten Silbe. Du und viele andere Expats neigt dazu, deutsche Eigennamen und auch andere Vokabeln einfach englisch auszusprechen. Das geht natürlich nicht, denn wir haben ja ganz andere Lautregeln!
Als Kind habe ich viel gelesen und bin ab und zu über den Namen Rachel gestolpert. Bevor ich Englisch lernte, fand ich ihn ziemlich schrecklich 😂
@@MareikeCorr 😅
Hella - die germanische Todesgöttin ("Hella halte mich fest!"). Der Zusammenhang mit Hölle ist soooweit gar nicht hergeholt, der mit Helena scheint schwieriger, aber auch nicht ganz unmöglich.
What a nice topic for a video :) love to see Germany from your eyes
I can't believe you've never heard of the world famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 😯 It's as if we Germans had never heard of William Shakespeare ;-)
Of course I’ve heard of him but I didn’t make the connection because I’ve always referred to him as just "Mozart"🤦🏻♀️
@@AntoinetteEmily Ah, I see 🙂 Thank you for not being upset ❤️
@@ingvarjensen1088😊
Would you find Mozart's name "Amadeus" strange too? (It's not that common now )
Hannelore always sounded weird to me as a foreigner, as we don't have many "double" names here in Poland, but we do have some strange diminutives (at least strange for others).
It's not easy to explain that Ola is Aleksandra, Asia is Joanna or Kuba is Jakub.
To make it easier I always tell english speakers: you have Dick from Richard and Bill from William, it's the same logic ; )
I have never heard the english examples before. Sounds so weird to me. But also the polish ones aswell. Why do names have shorter names that haven nothing with each other in common? 😅
I only know that when you are named Aleksander or Aleksandra the short name is Sasha/Sascha
@@1Jasmin Sasha is russian : > but from what I've read those forms used in polish were influenced by other languages like eastern slavic (russian/ukrainian). I have also found that in medieval times there were names Oleksander/Oleksandra, so it may be connected to that also.
But it is interesting, like in Poland we use Iza for Izabela, when I found that in english Bella is more popular.
Also found: Dick is a nickname most often for Richard, which likely originated in the Middle Ages as rhyming slang for "Rick", as did William → Will → Bill and Robert → Rob → Bob.
People are weird : D but I love how flexible languages are, it's beautiful.
Even worse, English devised Peg or Peggy as short for Margaret lol
@@1Jasmin: Hans, Hanns, Hannes, Johann, Johannes, John ( in friesian region) are the same name. Uli, Ulli, Ullrich, Huldrich, Huldreich are also the same. Heinrich/ Heinz, Friedrich/ Fritz/ Frieder/ Friederich, Werner/ Wernher, Peter/Pit. There is often a shorter version of german mens name, some are used only when spoken, for example my father Hermann is called sometimes Hemme by his friends.
How come Hella didn't make you think of Ella or Hellen or Helen? 😃 It is a name that finds its root in the Greek Ελένη and it means, as you rightfully said, bright light. That is my name too, but I am Italian, and so it became Elena
When you mention "Uwe" I also have to think about the German male name of "Ulf", which I find especially funny, because "going to the toilet and shouting for Ulf" is a phrase to describe vomiting, as the sound of the name is quite similar to the sound you make when vomiting.
Ulf, Ulv, Olaf, den würd ich in Skandinavien verorten, mit der Bedeutung Wolf
Wolfgang, a new superhero 😂
As a child, I found the name Wolfgang very strange, too! Did not even believe it was a real name at first. But as a child, I also found it super strange that English speaking people would call their kids Dick or Bart! :D But Uwe sounds very down-to-earth to me, it's not a high-class name.
Many of the strange-sounding names have Germanic origins (and are quite old-fashioned, those names were popular for centuries but then got really out of style about 60-70 years ago, maybe because of the Germanic hype of the Third Reich). But a few have made a comeback; I've met young Wolfgangs and Friedrichs and so on. I doubt that names like Eberhard, Günther or Edeltraut will come back soon, though :D Others are nordic. I did not know this about the name Uwe because I live in the North and funnily all Uwes I've met are from the South!
There are some older English names that sound quite unreal or a bit ridiculous for German ears, too! Sometimes they sound like someone just made them up :D
Eberhard(t), Günther and Edeltraut, yeah pretty oldfashioned, just like Hildegard, Brunhilde and Hedwig. although Hedwig kinda got a new sound to it, due to it being the name of Harry Potters Owl. The rest though are considered extremely oldfashioned if not ancient. 😄
Dick is mostly a nickname for Richard and Bart is Batholomew.
My baby's second name is Helmut after my late grandfather ☺️
Wolfgang might sound to you like a gang of wolves. But it means the walk of a wolve "He is walking like a Wolve"
in Sweden we spell Uwe, Ove instead =)
Es gibt einen schönen Comedyfilm :"Eurotrip".
Der Film fängt an über einen US Amerikaner, der einen deutschen E-Mail Brieffreund hat. Da gibt es einige Verwechselungen bezüglich deutscher Vornamen.
Ich finde den Film sehenswert.
Look up Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth. It has a whole part of the movie about a German taxi driver in New York named Helmuth.
i went to school with an Uwe in Australia and we pronounced it 'u vay'' with the u correct as in German but the second syllable rhyming with hay!
An unusual name for me even as a German is the name Wolfram as a male given name, which is also common as a family name.
It means the wolf and the raven from hraban = the raven (Old High German).
Wolfram in German also means the metal tungsten.
The metal name Wolfram in German comes from the name element wolf which eats the tin ore as if it were a sheep. A discovery of the Freiberg researcher Georgius Agricola.
Ram probably means soot or dirt because the black-gray mineral is very easy to grind and then reminds of soot.
Many names seem strange but their different origins explain a lot.
There is a really nice episode about "Helmut" in the movie "Night on Earth"
"Hella" also is a brand and the name of a german company producing headlights for cars and many other parts.
I had a similar experience at my exchange semester in Denmark last autumn when I met I guy from Australia called Zack. I asked him is Zack your real name because I thought this must be a nickname.
Isn't Zack the abbreviation of Zachary, a name from the Bible?
@@wolsch3435 Also known as Zacharias in German.
Wolfgang was my grandpa's name 🤣
When we had our kids, we decided to give them names that would work in German as well as English to give them options later in life.
Hi Antoinette,
at this very moment I did what I never thought I would do: I subscribed to a (in this case your) CZcams channel because I felt it was right.
And I am eagerly waiting for your mother to come to Germany cause that will be a lot of fun.
Hi from Berin
Hella is also a Company for Automotive Lighting.
For me it was Ute, Gudrun, Jutta ( at first I used to pronounce it like the state of Utah) Jochen, also Uwe and Helmut. Now they're just normal names to me, but I've been living in Germany for 13 years now:)
When I hear Helmut I immediately think about former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl
Quite funny to listen to your associations.
Wolfgang is a normal, common name, my brother's name, middle name of my brother in law. Whose first name is Hel(l)mut(h), as was my father's name.
Silke and Uwe also in my family, the most famous Uwe was late footballer Uwe Seeler.
In your little pictures was one Uwe I know since university. :))
Both names are northern/ Niederdeutsch origin, as my first name, not heard so very often. Could be the next misunderstanding for you.: )
I have a cousin called Silke My name js Renate named after my Dad's sister.Never came across one in Australia or 80% not pronounced here properly.
I live in the states now and there are americans with the name wolfgang. we saw Vanhalen in concert and ededie vanhalens son is wolfgand- wolfie. In germany i knew a few and of course Mozart. and i went to school with a girl named silke. and i have an onkle Helmut. the others not so much :))
Plus, double names go in and out of fashion here. My late grandfather was called Karl-Heinz and one of my classmates was called Marie-Sophie.
A few of those names you'll encounter in The Netherlands as well. I don't know whether they came from German(y) originally or that it is just because the languages and countries are so close.
I guess when these names came up, we in the west were all part of the Frankonian empire of Charlemagne. 😉
When you listed Silke I jumped out of my chair! I had a German pen-pal named Silke in the late '80s. I thought it was an amazing name! Never heard it since. Great video 😁
We were 3 in high school in the eighties.. (in my grade.. there were several other older and younger)
Der Name Silke war hier in den 60 - er Jahren sehr häufig! Seither aber bei den gängigen Kindsnamen wohl kaum noch zu finden.
@@EgoundderRest I understand, so a trendy name at the time. It's cool!
@@EgoundderRest I guess you are in the north of Germany. I was born in Bavaria in 1971 and my parents chose a rare name (at least they tried). Then moved to the north...
I NEVER heared the Name Hella so far here in Germany beside the one famous Lady in TV.
But: Thanks for the video!
Haha same here, I'm German and have never met a Hella 🤷🏻♀️
Hella ist die Kurzform für Helene , Helga. Sonst kenne ich Hella von Sinnen, das ist nur ein Künstlername und die Firma Hella welche Scheinwerfer herstellt.
@@mariposadelamusica1283Nicht so häufig wie Norbert, begegnet aber doch gelegentlich.
@@heinblod8720Hella ist eine nordische Gottheit, Helena eine altgriechische Sagengestalt. Da liegt eine Welt dazwischen.
All of these names are very common where I live, except for "Hella". This one always sounded unusual to me, too. When I hear it, it makes me think of Hella von Sinnen first, and next of a scene in a German movie, that I watched ages ago, I don't remember the name, though: a woman was dying and was trying to tell everyone, that a woman named "Hella" (who I think was in the room with them) had attacked her. But the people thought she was saying "heller" ("brighter") instead and tried to make as much light in the room as possible to soothe her in her last moments.
Uwe to me isn't a "posh" name at all, though.😅
Hel(la), die Todesgöttin, entspricht etwa der Persephone.
This video was great fun for me! Thanks! By the way: Uwe isn´t an upperclass name at all. It just was very very common name in the 1950s and 60s. And concerning the name Wolfgang: You pronounce the word Wolf English.
A great video Antoinette! :)
Thank you!! 😊
One of my first names is Ute. I used to travel a lot internationally and as most people had real difficulties with pronouncing and remembering my name I started using my second first name Susanne.
However when I was in New Zealand I soon found out that a ute is not a person‘s name ….. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 so I was Susan from then on.😅
Lucky that my parents gave me a couple of first names to choose from 🥂
That was my experience in Australia when I saw signs at the street saying "Rent a Ute"
I was completely flabbergasted and felt, that it can not be what it indicates...
So I learned a new English word "utility car" 😂😂😂😂
My first name up there is… well, I have two siblings, neither of which has an umlaut. :D But I can't use my umlaut-less second name since it comes from my godfather, a man I never got along with. Just don't like him. So, that one's *so* out (also, I'm not from Tyrol… ;-))
@@reginas.3491 yep, exactly
Uwe is, I think, an old norse name. In Scandinavia, boys are called Ove or Ole etc.
Concerning Helmut: I recommend the great movie "Night on Earth" by Jim Jarmush. It is a compilation of 5 or 6 situations in different cities at night in a taxi. In the New York part you'll have a Helmut /helmet. 😊🙋♀ (btw The Paris part is my favorite)
Y voit rien
They are alle great! Armin Müller-Stahl as Helmut is really gorgeous.
I'm german, 45y - I never herd of anyone named Hella, except for Hella von Sinnen - an artists name so I always though this was an artificial name. thanks for teaching me otherwise.
Helmut on the other hand was the name of my beloved grandfather...
Also like the vintage Name’s of my nephews born in the 2000s -> Gustav (m) and Luise (f) 😊
I also like a proper correct plural, "names".
While stationed in Germany many years ago I had a girl friend name Helmtraut (first name) Not sure if that's the correct spelling. But we parted (not because of her name, but because I rotated back to the US)
Silke is derived from Caecilia - your Cecily. It is quite common.
Wolfgang, Silke, Hella, Uwe, Helmut, I actually know or met people with these names, family, school friends and colleagues.
Unusual names? Karl-Heinz,Dieter,Liselotte, Friedhelm, … so many “older“ names to choose from…
My husband is Hans-Dieter and he has two other friends named Hans, different middle names though.He also has a friend named Dieter. I think it is probably considered old fashioned.I love the name Liselotte, so pretty.
Helmut Schmidt (German chancellor), Helmut Kohl (German chancellor), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (no explanation needed), Wolfgang Petersen (director of "Das Boot", "Outbreak", "Air Force One"......), Uwe Seeler (football player) - so no surprise for those with a little general knowledge of sports, politics and the arts, especially when you are born before 1970......
But it is true, nowadays newborns will not be given any of these names. I know people with all 5 names and they all are older than 45.
The same is true for Meike, Heike, Heiko, Sönke, Anke, Hilke, Frauke, Hauke etc. unless maybe you're born near the coast of the North Sea....
"Uwe" is actually the same as "Ubbe" - the son of Ragnar Lothbrok.....
Meike, Anke, Hilke, Frauke are still not uncommon in Northern Germany and you need not reach the sea to find them. ;) But yes, currently there is a decline.
@@marge2548 Some of those -ke names sound nice, but the names Frauke = Frauchen or Wiebke = Weibchen give me sort of an eerie feeling when I think of their meaning.
@@magmalin Growing up in Northern Germany, where these names were frequent at that time, that never occurred to me. However, thinking about it now, that might indeed be another reason why especially these two are not so popular anymore. :)
Der Name "Hela" kommt von "Hellena", die aus dem altgriechischen Geschichte kommt und als die berühte "schöne Hellana" bei allen gebildeteren Menschen gut bekannt ist.
Hella sounds to me as a shortage of the name 'Helene', like the name 'Silke'is for Cecilie' and 'Irmtraud' for 'Irmela Traute'...
If you think don't think Helmut is a funny name you should watch Night On Earth from Jim Jarmusch. In one of the episodes Armin Müller-Stahl plays Helmut, a taxi driver in New York.
Your video was so funny. I'm glad I watched it. I really enjoyed your perspective of our beautiful names and your interesting accent.
My Vattis 1st name is Eberhard and one of his middle names is Wolfgang. 🌲☀️
This reminds me, my baby is called Rowan. I'm German and live in the UK. Because my German grandma struggles with his name we looked at the German meaning of Rowan. This is actually Eberesche. So Eberhard is probably the closest to that.
@ulrikecaplin1854 Fascinating!, no matter where I happened to be born I'll be German. I can't help it if I wasn't born in Silesia ( Schlesien), where my dad was, as well as many other great Germans like the famous musician Kurt Masur and scientist Werner von Braun. However I can choose to be German FOREVER. I personally prefer German language and names above all others. I'm very delighted in my relatives very beautiful Germanic names. Interestingly I meet Latinos and others who've adopted German names. I deeply resent my father for not making me bilingual fluent in German as a little boy. I meet so many people who are bi and tri lingual since their youth. Prost 🌲🌟
My Uncle is Eberhard and lived in Berlin.
@@renatewest6366 Geil, Einer der Namen unseres Vaters ist Eberhard. ♥️ Frohe und besinnliche Weihnachtszeit ☃️🌲🕯🕯
3 of those names are in my German husband's family! And I also thought the same thing, "hmm...that is interesting!"
If you find this names strange you should look up friesian names. They are uniqueand only found there: Hauke, Frauke, Söhnke, Enno, Edzard,...
My neighbour, she's something around 40 is called Silke. I know quite some of them.
Imagine how Tod and Beulah and even Rachel look to German speakers :)
Megan is another nice one. Just change the vowels ...
The only name that threw me until I heard it a few times was Wiebke. But now it seems so normal. I grew up with the name Catia (Italian)in the US. Which is Katja in German and Katya in Russian. I still hate my name over 50 years later. 😂
Catia is a really nice name - in any language
Dear Antoinette, I would say, Wolfgang = the walk/ the way of walking of the wolf; 'gang' goes with 'gehen'
My brother and I had a wonderful teacher in kindergarten named Silke and Elke
I was astonished about marking the name Hella as every-day-name. Is it the case in the south of Germany? I'm from Niedersachsen originally, have lived in Thüringen, now in Sachsen and I've never met a person with this name. I only know Hella von Sinnen. And yeah, I know that the name exists but as I said I've never met a Hella.
A friend mine wife's name is Gundula. Yes she is a native German. How many Gundula's have you run across over there?
What's with Horst and Dieter?? 😆
I think Hella is just a short form of Helena. I never met one in person (I'm german). Of course, I know that there is Hella von Sinnen.
The same for me
Sure, it can be the short nick name form of Helena but it also can be the actual original name. There's so many different names people choose it's unbelievable.
I knew a Hella in school.
Really now uncommon female first names were apparently very popular in the 19th century and kept cropping up in our family tree of the time: "Wolke" and "Engel"(Cloud and Angel)
I think Silke isn't outdated, Helmut perhaps, Wolfgang - I don't think so, nor Uwe. None of those names have been very frequent in the past 50 years. Some more particular German names are Berthold, Friedhold, Eberhard, Gottfried, Winfried, Gotthold, Gottmar Waldemar, Walburga, Siglinde, Hildegard (Hilda, Hilde, Hille), Horst, Silja, Kunigunde, Armin, Arnulf, Arnold, Adelheid, Gertrude, Trudhilde, Freya, Manfred. I think all of them are Germanic names which could appear in a similar form in Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Due to Klinsmann and Klopp the name Jürgen might be more familiar in the USA and England - still strange just for its Umlaut ü.
Wait till you hear about Wolfgang Wolf!
my Father was a Helmut, I know you pronaunce the name like most englixh speakers but in Germen it a emphasis in the U than it does not sound as much like a helet anymore.
Both my parents are represented on this List.
Wolfgang and Hella.
Well. I would like to hear what you think about my mom’s first name, Bernwarda. Her friends called her Berta. I moved to Canada in 2005 and 2019 to Panama. Every time I applied for residency, same question: Is this your mother’s real name or nickname? - Story goes that in my families history there was a “Holy or Saint Bernward”. I put it in brackets, because depending who you asked , they even told me as a kid that he was a Pope….. Sure everyone knows how stories get to that. 😅 Anyway. My mom got his name, and because she was female, they put an “a” on the ending to fit. - Other way around regarding first names. I never get over the name “Darcy” in North America. I never had an idea, who the people talk about. Is it a woman or a man? Because in our friendship circle we had both. A woman and a man with that name. And a funny story at the end. I was in hospital in Canada. On the day of my release, I was still weak on my legs and had to go from one hospital to a different one for surgery. So I had to get dressed again. “No problem. Joe, your driver will help you…” I’m in the hospital shirt everyone knows, with the back open. I try to get up to put my Flipflops on. Well. Joe started whistle behind me. What the …. I turned around. Joe was a woman…. 😮
Hello Antoinette, my name is Trudi and I called my daughter Heidi after my favourite childhood book. I am from Christchurch, New Zealand and now live in Melbourne Australia. Do you hear these names often in Germany? We are of German descent. My great-grandfather came from Bremen, Niedersachsen. Our names often get mixed up with each other. Love your videos. You are so bright and lovely.
Heidi is becoming more popular, but it‘s not commonly used. I never met or heard of a Trudi, so it‘s probably very unique and not often used in Germany. When you want to check yourself, type in „Beliebte Vornamen Deutschland“
I actually have two neighbors called Trudi and Heidi here in Germany. haha
@@ahahihi9289 It’s a short form of Gertrud. My grandmother‘s name was Gertrud. It’s definitely outdated.
@@ahahihi9289 Trudi is an old name. It's short for Gertrud for example.
@@robbyh.8165 How funny is that !!!!
Good afternoon from Edmonton, Kentucky, U.S.A.
My grandfather’s oldest uncle’s name was Franz Killian Blehl (his last name was pronounced with a soft e and a silent h). He was born in Karlsruhe, Baden-Wurtemburg in the mid 1840’s. Opa, Oma, and Uncle Franz were part of the big group who emigrated, called the “48er’s” (sp?). They settled in Philadelphia. Older half-brother, younger brother, younger sister, and I were the first of that branch of the family to not have been born in Philadelphia.
Guten Tag👋, grüße aus Neu York USA 🌲
The "h" has a function: after a vowel, it means, the said vowel has to be spoken a bit longer than normal. So a German, who hears that name would write it with the "h" or at least ask, if there is one
@@Hundert1 hello to you too! I am a transplanted Jersey girl.
In 1924, my grandparents moved their family to the Washington Heights neighborhood. Dad’s and Uncle’s National Guard unit was housed in the building that is now called “The Armory”. After WWII, the family moved to NJ.
I have very few German words in my repertoire. The only word to have survived to my generation was saying “Gesundheit!” after someone else sneezed.
@@kilsestoffel3690 thank you! That is very interesting to know that the h has a purpose.
My grandfather would tell people his last name rhymed with . I guess he had gotten tired of people pronouncing our name as “Bleel” or “Blay’ el” or trying to pronounce the h.
@@amethystanne4586 Lol hahaha, what about Dankeschön and Kindergarten? And Wasser ( water ) and hungrig ( hungry) their not too far off. Englisch is a Germanic language after all. Prost 🍻🍺🌻🌲
My uncle's name is Wolfgang. And boy is he German 😂 A real Alman!! 😂😂
It's a pity you never met a Herrmann. 😅 I always considered that a rather strange name as a kid.
you should look up northern german/friesian names: Thies, Reik, Sönke, Birte, Finya, Jördis, Eike, Anke, Beeke, Imke, Tjag, Kjell, ...
Interesting observations, but all these names are common here - they just have not translation to the English-speaking world, like Johann (John). There are quite a few names from Germanic origin, starting for instance with Wolf-, Rain-, Rich-, Hilde- and ending on -gard, -fried, -gang, -mut, -hold, -hart. I had two Wolfgangs in my class, around 1970.
OTOH, there are some English names totally uncommon to me, e.g. Garry (Normannic) and Barry (Gaelic).
Gary is short for Garrett, Garrison, and Gareth.
@@jessicaely2521 Unbeknownst to me, Garrett corresponds to German "Gerhard" (*), Gareth (formerly Guerehet) may have the same roots(?), while Garrison is "son of Ger(h)ard".
(*) Ger- belongs in my list above, meaning "spear". Looks like "Old French" language links the Normans and the Germans...
Interesting news, thanks!
Well there are a few more that are even on the rise again.
My neighbour named her son Hektor and her second Johann.
These boys' names are rather old-fashioned.
The wife of one of our cousins named her son Viktor.
My father has a very strange name, like so many of our family, he was also called Bohlke.
That's a very old name that my great-great-great-great-grandfather's father-in-law left to his grandson. That was in 1728.
Funny Video idea!!!!
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
I like your pronunciation. only with Helmut, I would recommend you to say it as if written "Hellmoot". It would not sound like Helmet.
Dieter ist, glaube ich, so ein Name, den es nur auf deutsch gibt, oder Jutta. Es gibt sicherlich noch mehr Beispiele für solche Namen. Die moderne Babynamen, die man heute vergibt, sind überwiegend international gebräuchliche Namen.
Die Steigerung wäre dann wohl Dietbert (realer Name, bin schon einem begegnet). Wolfram ist ebenfalls ein gültiger Vorname, nicht nur ein Metall.
Moin Connie. Wolfgang, Uwe, Silke hatte ich in der Schule in einer meiner Klassen. Besonders an die Silke erinnere ich mich. Blonde Haare, braune Augen. Sehr süß. Nur dass ich damals zu schüchtern war. Und in meiner Nachbarschaft, bei meinem Elternhaus, wohnten eine Regina, eine Cornelia, und die Schwestern Renate und Astrid.. Ich weiß schon, warum ich mich in den sozialen Medien das Mikro benenne und nicht Klaus-Peter. LOL! Schöne Woche dir jo, da kann also Siri nicht einmal meinen Kanal Namen richtig aussprechen! Das Mino! Hast du’s jetzt?😅❤
Meine Mutter heißt Jutta, als Kurzform von Juditka (Kleine Judith). Varianten des Namens finden sich im Hebräischen (Jutta/Juda als Ortsname) und im Nordischen als Form von "Jütin" (also eine Frau aus Jütland). Dieter ist echt typisch für den deutschen Sprachraum, allerdings habe ich die Langform Dietrich auch schon in England gehört, wobei Namen wie Lotti, Gretchen, Ferdinand usw. dort eher eine Modeerscheinung sind.
My kiwi brother in law's name is Jody. I would have thought it's a female name, so was a bit surprised at the beginning
I know a Wolfgang, and he goes by Wolfie!!!
Do you think the name Hellen comes from Hella? It's not a popular name in America but I have heard of it.
Helmut = bright mood
This reminds me of hearing the name Eugene (in english pronaunced) in a movie once. He sounded really great to me. Then I thought about how to spell the name. In Germany he is then called Eugen. That's not great then. (Apologies to anyone with that name. Isn't personal!)
my cousin named her 3rd kid Eugene - and my grandma always had a huge issue remembering the name of her grandson until I spelled it out for her. - 'oh, das ist ein Eugen mit nem e zuviel. das kann ich mir merken.' :D
@@reesofraft4166Der Wohlgeborene - das ist der Name etlicher Päpste.
I had a Silke in my high school class in the early 1970s. It was an unusual name. It sounds quite northern - the -ke ending is definitely a northern diminutive.
"Hella" is a variant of "Helene", but not that popular. Indeed the association with "hell" works, yes.
"Uwe" sounds northern as well. A ususal name. It happens.
Helmut. I had a friend with that name, a quite awkward person, so...
Silke is also the name of a seal man in Norwegian folklore. The seal trransforms himself into a man and woos a maiden, but he is killed by a harpoon fisherman later. There's even a song called "The Great Silkie 9sealkie)
"Uwe" is a Northern German name. I think there is a Danish variety Ove (with the O having a slash - I cannot reproduce that on my keyboard).
One of the more strange German names for me was my late father's name "Norbert" - which I always translated as "Northern beard" - but apparently it means "a bright Shine in the North" (Northern lights, maybe?) - which is actually really nice. Anyway, I really loved my father dearly, but his name never sounded friendly to my ears. And I always, even when I was little, wondered why anyone would name their kids like that.
Norbert means Father from the North ......
@@joergfro7149 ah, ok… aparently each website you look at gives a slightly different meaning.
I cannot even tell you why I never liked it. Both of its meanings are fine. Nonetheless, to me it sounds odd.
The Danish version Ove isn't written with a slash, it"s actually Ove, not Øve. I kmow a few German men with the name Ove (it's a common name in northern Germany, although not as common as Uwe.)
Wo es viele "Norbert" gibt, kann man damit rechnen, daß es dort mal ein Prämonstratenserkloster gegeben hat. Wo es auffällig viele "Nikolaus" und "Barbara" gibt, ist Steinkohlebergbau zu vermuten.
@@jrgptr935 Ah, interessant.
Ich vermute, auch anderer Bergbau, oder?
In der Gegend in Slowenien, wo meine mütterliche Verwandtschaft gestammt, heißt gefühlt jede dritte Frau und jedes dritte Mädchen Barbara - und in der Region gab es früher Bergbau - aber für Eisenerz.
Andererseits hat mein Wohnort am
Niederrhein eine St. Nikolaus-Kirche und hatte bis vor einigen Jahren eine St.Barbara Schule - ohne jeglichen Bergbau im weiten Umkreis.
Silke, you hear a lot in Belgian! We have different pronounciation. Do you hear 'Maud' in Germany?
Wait until she actually discovers what so many really old names mean, like old aunt Gertrud. That's the name we gave our old cat and she lived up to it, even if the cat never really needed a spear for anything.