The GW Expat Blog

Baby Names: In and Out of Fashion

Like many other things in life, baby names go in and out of fashion. It’s an international phenomenon that applies globally, regardless of language. Some first names (Vornamen) are rather timeless, while others fade away. Baby names are also much more international that we might think. On this page we look at and compare recent popular baby names in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the USA. At the end you’ll find a list of old-fashioned German first names.

Vornamen • First Name Facts
Baby names…

• vary according to language, country, and era.
• vary within a country by region, state, and ethnicity.
• in German-speaking Europe tend to be very international, especially in the age of the internet.
• can in some cases be timeless, without an expiration date. (Florian, William)
• can drop like a rock after years of high popularity. (Taylor, Kevin)
• can make a comeback after years of rarity. (Emil)
• are inspired and gain popularity (or lose it) through the influences of popular culture (books, films, current events, sports, etc.)

Unlike in the United States, German parents can’t simply pick any first name they like. The new baby’s name must be approved by the local Standesamt (registry office). There are rules and requirements for baby names that must be followed. German bureaucracy must get involved. It’s the German way!

Germany’s Lack of a Central Database
Considering the German tendency to gather data, it may be surprising to learn that, unlike most countries, Germany has no official record-keeping agency that maintains a nationwide, annual database of baby names. German-speaking Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein each do have an official national database. In the United States the Social Security Administration (SSA) has maintained a database of baby names dating from 1880 to the present.

The Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache e. V. (GfdS) is a not-for-profit German language association based in Wiesbaden that, among other activities, annually compiles baby name data for Germany (since 1977). PHOTO: GfdS website

For names in Germany, to provide consistency, we have used the data provided by the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache e. V. (GfdS), a nongovernmental association. But there are other private baby name databases and websites for German names, some of which we link to below. When using a different database below, we note that fact. The only problem with the GfdS data is the fact that in order to obtain their full list of 200 baby names, you have to pay a fee. That means for this blog post we are limited to the GfdS’s publicly available Top 10 names. (Yes, we’re too cheap to pay for it, but we provide a link below that readers can use to order the full GfdS names list for 2023.)

Missing Names and New Names
Two male names that were previously in the Top 10 are missing in the 2023 Germany rankings. Both Ben, a No. 1 name in 2019, and Finn, ranked 4th last year, have now fallen out of the Top 10. On the other hand, Liam, in 15th place last year, rose five places for 2023. Liam, an Irish form of William, probably got a boost from two popular film actors: Liam Neeson (Irish) and Liam Hemsworth (Australian). Liam and Noah ranked 1 and 2 in the 2022 US names list. Henry, 7th in Germany, was also 7th in the US 2023 list. Mateo, 7th in Germany was 11th in the US for 2022. Mateo/Matheo/Matteo is a Spanish or Italian form of the biblical name Matthew (Matthäus in German).

For the girls, Lia made it into 10th position for 2023. That’s a climb in popularity from 63rd in 2010, 25th in 2020, and 14th in 2022. The German female names have been very stable for several years, with no big name popularity drops as with the boys. Germany’s female names also are very international. The following “German” names for girls also appear in the US Top 10 list for 2022: Emma, Sophia, and Mia. See the USA Top 20 names below.

Regional Naming Variations in Germany
The baby names rankings for Germany above are for the entire nation. However, if we look at each of the 16 Bundesländer (federal states), regional variations become apparent. According to the GfdS, here are the top three boys and girls names in some sample German Länder:

BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG
Girls: 1. Sophia (1), 2. Emma (3), 3. Emilia (5)
Boys: 1. Noah (1), 2. Leon (2), 3. Matteo (3)

BAVARIA
Girls: 1. Sophia (1), 2. Emilia (3), 3. Emma (2)
Boys: 1. Leon (2), 2. Felix (5), 3. Lukas (1)

BERLIN
Girls: 1. Sophia (1), 2. Emilia (2), 3. Charlotte (5)
Boys: 1. Mohammed (1), 2. Noah (2), 3. Adam (3)

HAMBURG
Girls: 1. Emilia (4), 2. Sophia (3), 3. Emma (1)
Boys: 1. Mohammed (5), 2. Henry (3), 3. Liam (9)

HESSE
Girls: 1. Emilia (2), 2. Sophia (1), 3. Emma (6)
Boys: 1. Noah (1), 2. Mohammed (3), 3. Matheo (2)

LOWER SAXONY
Girls: 1. Ella (4), 2. Emilia (1), 3. Emma (5)
Boys: 1. Noah (1), 2. Matheo (2), 3. Finn (3)

SAXONY
Girls: 1. Hanna (1), 2. Emilia (4), 3. Emma (2)
Boys: 1. Emil (1), 2. Matheo (4), 3. Oskar (3)

Problem Names: Karen, Kevin, Chantal, and Others
The Irish given name Kevin was at one time a very popular name for boys in Germany. It became so popular in fact that a negative preconception about the name Kevin developed among teachers and the general public in Germany. There is even a term for this phenomenon: Kevinismus (“Kevinism”).

It was somewhat similar to the later negative attitude about the name Karen that developed in the United States recently. But the name “Karen” became a somewhat random, unfair meme after various white women appeared in cell phone videos doing inappropriate, racist things in reaction to the presence of Black or Asian people.

Unlike Karen, the negative attitude about Kevin had no real basis in fact. It simply reflected a prejudice against trendy, “foreign” names, including the French female name Chantal. The female equivalent of Kevinism was Chantalism.

Kevin first entered the West German Vorname world in the late 1970s when the English football (soccer) player Kevin Keegan played for Hamburg SV between 1977 and 1980. But the name Kevin didn’t spike to extreme popularity until after the 1990 hit movie Home Alone. The German title was Kevin – Allein zu Haus, reflecting the leading character Kevin McCallister (played by Macaulay Culkin). Around the same time, the actor Kevin Costner appeared in several hit films, including Dances With Wolves (1990), which did well in Germany. In 1991 the number one baby name for boys in Germany was Kevin. The name remained very popular into the early 2000s, but by 2010 it had largely disappeared from the top baby names lists in the German-speaking world.

The same thing happened, less dramatically, to earlier trendy given names such as Heini (short for Heinrich), Horst, Detlef, and Uschi (short for Ursula). For a full list of dated German first names see below.

Another source of Austrian baby names is charlies-names.com, sponsors of a name app for Android and iOS, which lists names for 2024. Their Top 50 list for Austria varies somewhat from the official statistik.at list above, and also includes “unisex names”. According to charlies-names.com, the Top 10 names for boys and girls in Austria for 2024 are:

GIRLS: 1. Emilia, 2. Sophie/Sofie, 3. Sophia/Sofia, 4. Emma, 5. Hanna(h), 6. Mia, 7. Luisa, 8. Marie, 9. Ella, 10. Amalie
BOYS: 1. Elias, 2. Felix, 3. Jonas, 4. Mateo/Matteo, 5. Maximilian, 6. Jakob, 7. Paul, 8. Teo/Theo, 9. Finn/Fynn, 10. Emil

Another source of German Swiss baby names is charlies-names.com, sponsors of a name app, which lists names for 2023. Their Top 50 list for German-speaking Switzerland varies somewhat from the official babynames-stat.ch list above, and also includes “unisex names”. The Top 10 names for boys and girls in German Switzerland are:

GIRLS: 1. Emilia, 2. Sophia/Sofia, 3. Mia, 4. Mila/Myla, 5. Lia(h), 6. Sophie/Sofie, 7. Emma, 8. Lina, 9. Malia, 10. Elea
BOYS: 1. Levi/Levy, 2. Elias, 3. Liam, 4. Finn/Fyn, 5. Mateo/Matteo, 6. Lio, 7. Leon, 8. Mael, 9. Louis/Luis, 10. Elio

Similarities Across Countries and Languages
In 2023 there were many similarities among name lists for the US and Germany, as well as for Australia, Canada, England, and other nations. Several boys’ and girls’ names can be seen on both the American list above and the lists for German-language countries. Charlotte, Henry, Sophia/Sophie, Mateo, Emma, Noah, Mia, and Liam appear on German-language and English-language lists. Some may be pronounced differently, but it’s obvious than many names cross international borders. Some of the names are biblical (Noah), while others are historic (Charlotte, Sophia). In all cases they are now international.

German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (left) with Ronald Reagan, the future US president, in Bonn, West Germany in November 1978. PHOTO: Detlef Gräfingholt, Bundesarchiv via Wikipedia Commons

Oldies But Goodies
In the table below you’ll find a lot of names you probably know, but have fallen out of favor and fashion. Germany’s former chancellor, Angela Merkel, has a first name that was once popular, but is no longer found in Top 10 baby name lists. One of my favorite German chancellors (from 1974 to 1982) was Helmut Schmidt (1918-2015). His full name was Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt! There was also an “Uncle Helmut” in my Austrian wife’s family. But that male given name is quite rare today.

I remember the film actress Elke Sommer very well. (She’s still alive and well, by the way, now living in the Los Angeles area.) Sommer appeared in many European and Hollywood films in the 1960s and 1970s. She was born Elke Schletz on 5 November 1940 in Berlin-Spandau. In Germany the female first name Elke peaked in popularity between the 1940s and the 1960s. It began to fade away in the 1970s until the name “Elke” pretty much disappeared in the 1980s.

Below you’ll find a list of German male and female names that are for the most part very rare in the present day. It’s a collection of first names that we have dubbed “oldies but goodies”.

You might be interested in another name tradition that was once popular in Austria and parts of Germany. Today it’s still popular in Sweden and some other European countries. Many Europeans know and celebrate their Name Day (Namenstag). In some countries your name day is more important than your birthday.

– HF