Naming a baby in Germany

Choosing a name for a baby is a big deal. I mean it's what they will be called for life. That's huge, and scary, and can be overwhelming at times. Some people use classic family names that have been around for generations while others choose something more unique and trendy. There are the people that know the name they are going to use before they are even pregnant, and some people wait until they meet their child before choosing a name. 

Whenever people find out you're pregnant everyone wants to chat about baby names. Everyone has their favorite names or names they absolutely hate. Everyone has an opinion.

Thinking about nicknames, initials, meanings behind a name, all of those things are things you think about when talking baby names. Naming someone for life is hard.

And  if you have older children, you have to worry about how it will sound along side each other. Do they sound nice together? Because, let's face it, you'll probably be saying them together a lot, calling them for dinner, talking about them in general.

But, if all of that isn't stressful enough, in the USA you can name your child pretty much anything you want, but imagine if you lived in Germany and had to deal with baby-naming laws.

Yes, you read that right. 

Germany has laws on baby-naming! 

You better think twice before naming your Junge (boys) and Mädchen (girls)

I know you are wondering what these restrictions are and here are some of them:

• Names must be gender specific, except for Maria which can be used as a second boy's name.


• Names must follow order and decency. 


• No biblical names with negative connections or negative names in general  (Cain, Lucifer, Adolph)


• No names of products or brands. (Nike, Apple)


• A child can have up to 5 names, but only 28 characters in a name. 


• Surnames can not be used as first names.


• No geographical names. (Berlin, Paris, River)


• No titles of nobility. (Princess, Duke)


• No names that will “negatively affect the well-being of the child.”
  

Here are some interesting facts I found when researching this:

Huckleberry was turned down because the character Huckleberry Finn was an outsider in the Mark Twain novel.

Miatt was denied because it wasn't known whether or not it was male or female.

The name Whoppi (to honor Whoppi Goldberg) was denied because of the expression "making whoopee". 

Your name has to be approved by the office of vital statistics, the Standesamt, in your region. Each name you submit costs a fine. If you name is denied, you can submit a new name for another fee.

So what DO Germans name their children?

My landlord told me two popular boy names now are Max and Otto. Seems right.

I also found boy and girl name lists for the top 5 German names in 2012.

Boys:

1. Luca

2. Maximilian

3. Alexander

4. Paul

5. Ben

Girls:

1. Sophie

2. Marie

3. Maria

4. Sophia

5. Mia

Pretty average names huh? 

Luckily, for our family, none of these baby naming laws are a problem because we don't fall under these restrictions. We get to pick a name that suits us and our family without having to check with the local law. And for now we're still debating. Like I said, it's hard naming someone for life. But, we think we have it down to 2 names. For now we're keeping them under wraps.

So, would you have a problem with name restrictions? 

Would a name you love be denied? 

Or do you think naming laws are a good idea?

Resources: gfds.de,  babble.com, bbc.co.uk, huffingtonpost.com, about.com

Where am I really from?

This is a photograph* of my maternal grandparents.

This photo was taken in 1943 when they were 24 and 18 years old.

Willard and Nettie Uldine from Georgia. 

But before that?

Before that? That's the real question. Where am I actually from?

That's exactly what E asked last week and I'm here to answer.

England

Ireland

Scotland

But, you've seen me, I'm sure that's no shock. One look at me and I bet you guessed one of those countries.

Lately I've been doing a lot of research into my family genealogy and discovered a lot of different things. Like did you know there is a story in my family that Anne Lee, who married my great x5 grandfather Robert was Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee's sister?! The records on this have been lost over the years due to fires, floods etc, but that's the story!

I discovered that back in the 1700's there are records of three Wise sisters marrying 3 Denmark brothers. Oh to top that, from the records it looks like they were all first cousins. But that was common back then. You know keeping it all in the family and keeping the blood line "clean". Nice.

Of course my husband decided to do some researching of his own. From this we have found some pretty interesting names on both sides. For our next baby** we've picked some pretty rad names from the family history.

For Boys:

Turrence

Archibald

Malachi

Seaborn

Ulrich

Barnabas

Shadrick

Willoughby

For Girls:

Faithy

Mourning

Jincey

Waster

Phylinda

Delphia

Keziah

Favorite combo has to be Malachi Ulrich for a boy. And don't you just love how they spelled Mourning - as in grief, not like Morning - as in dawn.

I love how on both my side and Richards side there is only ONE person out of maybe 100 who actually has the records. How come nobody else knows/has that information. When talking to family we got a lot of "ask Aunt ---- she knows". We should all know. My plan is to get all this information together and make a copy for Ariana.

*I love this photo so much it's framed and sitting my living room. They are both deceased now.

**Just for the record, we are NOT pregnant and this is NOT a real baby name list. This list is for entertainment purposes only.