🇩🇪 5 ''NORMAL'' GERMAN NAMES YOU WON'T BELIEVE ARE REAL 🇩🇪 

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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.

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!

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…

We had 2 Chancellors named Helmut: Helmut Schmidt and Helmut Kohl! Uwe is also in Danish, but written as Ove.

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.

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.

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.

There are many "strange" names depending on which country one comes from, not only Germany.

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?😄

"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!

My baby's second name is Helmut after my late grandfather ☺️

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.

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.

Das Gegenteil von Helmut ist Dunkelangst 😜👍🏻

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

What a nice topic for a video :) love to see Germany from your eyes

I love how your perspective changed so drastically, sometime 180 degrees, as you learned the meanings of the names and met lovely people 🙂

in Sweden we spell Uwe, Ove instead =)

Hella and Hilla used to be popular abbreviations for Hildegard.

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

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 ; )

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 RU-vid: " Night on Earth by Jim Jarmusch, NY scene (HD)"

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.

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.: )

Wolfgang, a new superhero 😂

"Hella" also is a brand and the name of a german company producing headlights for cars and many other parts.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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 ;-)

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 :))

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:)

Uwe is, I think, an old norse name. In Scandinavia, boys are called Ove or Ole etc.

Wolfgang might sound to you like a gang of wolves. But it means the walk of a wolve "He is walking like a Wolve"

Hella is also a Company for Automotive Lighting.

A great video Antoinette! :)

If you find this names strange you should look up friesian names. They are uniqueand only found there: Hauke, Frauke, Söhnke, Enno, Edzard,...

Imagine how Tod and Beulah and even Rachel look to German speakers :) Megan is another nice one. Just change the vowels ...

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)

Hi Antoinette, at this very moment I did what I never thought I would do: I subscribed to a (in this case your) RU-vid 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 sounds to me as a shortage of the name 'Helene', like the name 'Silke'is for Cecilie' and 'Irmtraud' for 'Irmela Traute'...

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 😁

There is a really nice episode about "Helmut" in the movie "Night on Earth"

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.

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 hace a cousin on Poland called Hella.Silke is pronounced Sil kair

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.

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.

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. 🌲☀️

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.😅

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…

I NEVER heared the Name Hella so far here in Germany beside the one famous Lady in TV. But: Thanks for the video!

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.

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.

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.

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 🥂

When I hear Helmut I immediately think about former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl

you should look up northern german/friesian names: Thies, Reik, Sönke, Birte, Finya, Jördis, Eike, Anke, Beeke, Imke, Tjag, Kjell, ...

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.

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.

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.

Also like the vintage Name’s of my nephews born in the 2000s -> Gustav (m) and Luise (f) 😊

A friend mine wife's name is Gundula. Yes she is a native German. How many Gundula's have you run across over there?

Silke is derived from Caecilia - your Cecily. It is quite common.

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…. 😮

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)

Do you think the name Hellen comes from Hella? It's not a popular name in America but I have heard of it.

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.

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.

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).

My neighbour, she's something around 40 is called Silke. I know quite some of them.

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.....

I know a Wolfgang, and he goes by Wolfie!!!

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)

Dear Antoinette, I would say, Wolfgang = the walk/ the way of walking of the wolf; 'gang' goes with 'gehen'

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 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...

Both my parents are represented on this List. Wolfgang and Hella.

My brother and I had a wonderful teacher in kindergarten named Silke and Elke

What's with Horst and Dieter?? 😆

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.

3 of those names are in my German husband's family! And I also thought the same thing, "hmm...that is interesting!"

Funny Video idea!!!!

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.

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.

Hella fucking cool... the 90s! ;)

Helmut = bright mood

Silke, you hear a lot in Belgian! We have different pronounciation. Do you hear 'Maud' in Germany?

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...

Wait till you hear about Wolfgang Wolf!

So funny: My brother's name is Uwe and my sister's name is Silke!

What about Dankwart, Hermenegildis, Engelbert, Fürchtegott, Gottlieb???

Lol, somehow I knew my name would be on this list ... Silke is not a name, it is a label for women of a special cohorte ... It was most popular between 1964 and 1975. And I fall somewhere into that. Between 2010 and 2021 it was only given about 30 times as first name. So you can age women who are named Silke pretty well.

Giesbert , Albrecht , Armin , Johanna und Johann Zwier , das sind alte Namen in Germanien .

"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.