Gunther

When it’s spelled with two dots over the ‘u’ in German, Gunther is pronounced GUWN-ter, but it has a much softer sound when the ‘h’ is voiced by English-speakers, as it was, for example, for the name of a character in Friends.

Gunther has never been as well used in this country as the Scandinavian version, Gunnar, which now ranks at Number 502, making Gunther all the more distinctive.

Well-known Gunthers include German novelist Gunt(h)er Grass and the character in the German epic poem Die Nibelungenlied, which formed the basis for Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle of operas.