German Boy Names

[meg07]

Hello everyone!

I am in search of the perfect German boy's name. My paternal grandmother is very German and I think this would be a wonderful way to honor her. Her name is Frieda and her mother, my great grandmother's name was Olga. My grandmother has a brother named George, but I'm not keen on using it. I also know of a Gus in the family, but from what I understand, he wasn't the nicest man around, so I'm not sure how well that would go over. I love August (with or without the nn Gus), however.

The following names are names that I like. I'm not sure if I love them, though. I like some of them more than others, but I'd still love to hear your opinion. Do you have any other suggestions?

Amory/Amery
Barrett
Brant
Chip (as a nn ... maybe Charles nn Chip?)
Ebbo
Emery/Emory
Emmett
Fritz (as a nn ... maybe Frederick nn Fritz?)
Garrison
Halden
Jaeger (yay-ger)
Saxon
Wulf (same as wolf)
Heinrich
Keene
Kellen
Otto

What do you think of these names? Can you think of any others?

Thanks!
Megan

[jeska]

I knew a German guy, years ago, called Heiko. (Also spelled Haiko, I believe). I always thought it was an awesome name.

[spring13]

Ingo is the first thing that popped into my head.

[nvettie]

Maximilian is the first name that came mind when I read your post.

[sodallas3]

My family is German too! In particular I really love Saxon. I definitely wouldn't use Heinrich though because the first thing that comes to mind is Heinrich Himmler. My great grandfather's name was Franz.

[alzora]

Johannes
Hans
Hansel

[go_veg]

I went to university in Germany. I made a list of the most common male names I can think of (with pronunciation approximation to American English for some). Of the names you listed, the only ones I have ever heard used in German speaking countries are Fritz, Heinrich, Otto, and Wulf (although it is usually spelled Wolf and short for Wolfgang). Not that there's anything wrong with the other names, they're just not really used in Germany. Names like Alexander, Christian, Martin, Max, Michael, Paul, and Thomas are very popular there but, of course, don't sound exclusively German.

Andreas
Anton
Armin
Bernd
Bernhard
Bruno
Clemens/Klemens
Christoph
Dieter
Erich
Florian
Franz
Gerhard
Harald
Heinz
Jan
Jens
Joachim (Yo AH keem)
Jochen (YA kin)
Jurgen
Kai
Karl
Karl Heinz
Karl Uwe
Karsten
Klaus
Kurt
Markus
Matthias (Ma TEE us)
Reiner
Reinhard
Sebastian
Stefan (SHtefan)
Tobias (To BEE us)
Torsten
Udo
Uwe (pronounced OOh - va)
Werner

[kala_way]

Amory/Amery/Emery/Emory : sorry but these feel feminine to me because of the "marie" ending, beautiful names but for a girl in my mind
Barrett : I don't hate this one, but it does make me think barrette (like hair clip), I prefer Bennett
Brant : this one is okay, different but not bad
Chip/Charles : I like Charles, Chip sounds like a preppy rich boy
Ebbo : sounds like a nickname
Emmett : Twilight. Not a bad name
Fritz : I like both Fritz and Frederick, good solid names with a German flair
Garrison : not fond
Halden : interesting, I kinda like it better than Holden and you could use Hal as a nn
Jaeger : sorry, don't like
Saxon : doesn't sound like a name to me
Wulf (same as wolf) : I like Wolfgang
Heinrich : interesting, though would be difficult in today's
Keene : hmm, not bad
Kellen : okay, but I don't like Kelly for a boy
Otto : meh, I just get a picture of a WW2 general with this

Other options:
Felix, Jonas, Lukas, Niklas

[meg07]

Thank you all so much for the comments. They were so helpful!!

From the suggestions, I like:
Felix
Tobias
Sebastian
Kai
Heinz
Maximillian
Ingo
Heiko

Thanks, again, everyone! You are so helpful.
Megan

[jshores]

I love Brant, but prefer it spelled Brandt. I grew up with one and that probably has something to do with my positive association of the name.

I also love Keene / Keane. Sebastian nn Bastian is really growing on me these days...