History, technology and current political trends all seem to have an influence when German parents decide on names for their children, a new survey shows.
I gained a new surname when I moved to Germany. No marriage or legal conversion was involved, but rather my name as I knew it took on a different pronunciation and meaning.
A new film will hit screens this autumn about a young couple who decide to name their child Adolf. So how many Adolfs are there, and what does it feel like to share your name with one of history's biggest monsters?
We have already brought you the weirdest surnames carried by famous people. Who could fail to laugh at the meaning behind footballer Bastian Schweinsteiger's name? But it gets really bizarre when you start to browse through the German telephone book.
Ăber-Germanic names like Wolfgang and Siegfried are nowhere to be found on this list. Instead, modern Germans like their children to sound a bit more international.
The Local Germany's editor Jörg Luyken was born and brought up in the UK. But his immigrant father decided to lumber him with an ĂŒber-German name. This has led to confusion at home and in Deutschland, too.
When dealing with inquiries, employees at job centres in Germany tend to discriminate against people with names that sound foreign, according to a report released on Friday.
A pair of old favourites, Sophie and Maximilian, once again topped the table of Germany's favourite baby names for 2014, in a list dominated by traditional monikers.
Germans have once again chosen to keep their children's names to three letters, with Ben and Mia the most popular baby names in 2013 for the third year in a row.
The GĂŒnthers and Gudruns of Germany seem to be falling further out of favour with new parents: A survey released Friday of the most popular baby names in 2012 put both "Mia" and "Ben" at the top of the list for the second year running.
Foreigners who want to change their names to Germanic ones have been told by a court that wanting to fit in is not a good enough reason to choose new monikers.
Women and foreigners in Germany are more likely to get a job interview if they send in anonymous applications which do not include details of age, gender or name, a new survey shows.
People called Kevin or Mandy have worse chances of finding love online than those with more upmarket names such as Charlotte or Jakob, a study has revealed.
Two long-time favourites, Marie and Maximilian, once again topped the list of last yearâs most popular baby names in Germany, the Society for German Language reported on Thursday.
Supermodel Heidi Klum apparently feels her surname is too German for America and has reportedly filed to change it to Samuel â the last name of her husband, pop singer Seal.
Germanyâs Constitutional Court upheld a ban on triple surnames on Tuesday. The ruling denied an appeal from a Munich couple who wanted to combine their last names to give the wife the moniker Thalheim-Kunz-Hallstein.
