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German Girl Names

German Girl Names

German girl names include such classics as Alice and Emma along with many girl names that rank among the most fashionable today, both in Germany and the English-speaking world.

Along with Alice and Emma, the top German girl names in the US Top 1000 today include Adele, Amelia, Annalise, Ella, Elsa, Emmeline, Millie, and Zelda. In Germany, unique girl names with modern style include Anja, Frieda, Ida, Maude, Romy, and Tilly.

The top girl names in Germany include both those popular throughout Europe and North America, such as Emma, Mia, and Sophia, along with girl names particular to Germany, such as Lotta, Leni, and Nele, a German short form of Cornelia.

In Germanophone Switzerland, Emma and Emilia are the most popular German names for girls.

The roster of top German girl names includes German variations of many familiar names, often with a spelling twist. Emilia ranks among Germany’s top names rather than Amelia, Klara takes the place of Clara, Emilie stands in for Emily, Sofie and Lilly are used instead of the usual English versions Sophie and Lily.

You can browse the complete roster of German girl names on Nameberry here, ordered by their popularity on Nameberry.

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  1. AliceHeart
    • Origin:

      German
    • Meaning:

      "noble"
    • Description:

      Alice is a classic literary name that's both strong and sweet, ranking in the US Top 100 and popular throughout the western world. Alice is derived from the Old French name Aalis, a diminutive of Adelais that itself came from the Germanic name Adalhaidis, which is composed of the Proto-Germanic elements aþala, meaning "noble," and haidu, "kind, appearance, type."
  2. AmeliaHeart
    • Origin:

      German
    • Meaning:

      "work"
    • Description:

      Amelia is one of the hottest girls' names, a successor to the megapopular Emma and Emily. Amelia, which spent several years at Number 1 in England, vaulted into the US Top 10 in 2017 and continues to rise.
  3. AdelaideHeart
    • Origin:

      Variant of Adelheidis, German
    • Meaning:

      "noble, nobility"
    • Description:

      Adelaide is now heading straight uphill on the coattails of such newly popular sisters as Ava, Ada, and Audrey, and in the company of Adeline and Amelia. It was chosen by actress Katherine Heigl for the name of her second daughter.
  4. MatildaHeart
    • Origin:

      German
    • Meaning:

      "battle-mighty"
    • Description:

      Matilda is a sweet vintage name that has been gently climbing the popularity list for the past 15 years, after a half-century slumber. The spunky children's book heroine Matilda is one factor in its rise, along with others of its class like Eloise and Caspian.
  5. EmmaHeart
    • Origin:

      German
    • Meaning:

      "universal"
    • Description:

      Emma has now been among the top girl namesin the United States for several years, claiming the Number 1 crown in 2008 and again from 2015 to 2018. It now stands at Number 2 in the US, but is still the Number 1 girls' name in Switzerland, Austria, and Argentina.
  6. WillaHeart
    • Origin:

      Feminine variation of William
    • Meaning:

      "resolute protection"
    • Description:

      Willa has become increasingly fashionable, with its combination of Willa (born Wilella) Cather-like pioneer strength and the graceful beauty of the willow tree.
  7. AdaHeart
    • Origin:

      German or Turkish
    • Meaning:

      "noble, nobility, or island"
    • Description:

      Ada is one of the classic baby names for girls that is suddenly super stylish again. A favorite at the end of the nineteenth century, Ada is an alternative to the over-popular Ava. Ada is also part of the trend toward simple, old-fashioned names beginning with a vowel, like Ivy and Ella.
  8. RomyHeart
    • Origin:

      Diminutive of Rosemary, Roma, Romana, Romilly etc.
    • Description:

      Austrian actress Romy Schneider seemed to be the singular bearer of this international nickname name until it found new style currency in the past decade.
  9. EllaHeart
    • Origin:

      German; English
    • Meaning:

      "all, completely; fairy maiden"
    • Description:

      Ella is a sweet, simple name that owes much of its current popularity to the popularity of other names, from Emma to Bella to Emily to Ellie.
  10. EmmelineHeart
    • Origin:

      Old French form of archaic German Amal
    • Meaning:

      "work"
    • Description:

      Emmeline is an Emma relative and Emily cousin that is destined for greater use in the wake of the megapopularity of those two names. A recommended Nameberry fave, Emmeline hopped onto the US Top 1000 in 2014 for the first time ever. While it is genuinely an old name, it was rarely used a century ago; only 17 baby girls were named Emmeline in 1915, the same number as were named Ernie!
  11. MillieHeart
    • Origin:

      Diminutive of Mildred or Millicent
    • Meaning:

      "gentle strength; strong in work"
    • Description:

      Millie is back. It's a Top 100 name throughout much of the English-speaking world, though not yet in the US. Millicent would be an appealing long form, but many people are using Millie all by its cute self -- so many, in fact, that it returned to the Top 500 in 2015 for the first time since World War 2 and continues to climb.
  12. ZeldaHeart
    • Origin:

      Diminutive of Griselda
    • Meaning:

      "gray fighting maid"
    • Description:

      Classified as an early beauty, Zelda has long and often been used as such for characters in books and films. Since 1986, Zelda has been a prime Nintendo name, as in the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
  13. LoreleiHeart
    • Origin:

      German
    • Meaning:

      "alluring, temptress"
    • Description:

      The lovely Lorelei, a name from old German legend, was a beautiful Rhine River seductress whose haunting voice led sailors to hazardous rocks that would cause them to be shipwrecked. And this siren image clung to the name for ages.
  14. AmaliaHeart
    • Origin:

      German
    • Meaning:

      "work"
    • Description:

      Amalia is a widely cross-cultural name, heard from Italy to Romania, Germany to Scandinavia. The current heir to the Dutch throne is Princess Catharina-Amalia of Orange. It can be pronounced ah-MAH-lee-a or ah-mah-LEE-a.
  15. AmelieHeart
    • Origin:

      French variation of Amelia
    • Meaning:

      "work"
    • Description:

      Emily gets a Bohemian spin and a French accent when it becomes Amelie. This favorite among French girl names has been gaining notice here thanks to the charming 2001 French film Amelie; it entered the American popularity list in 2002 and is now solidly established in the Top 1000.
  16. WilhelminaHeart
    • Origin:

      German, feminine variation of Wilhelm
    • Meaning:

      "resolute protection"
    • Description:

      Wilhelmina was long burdened with the Old Dutch cleanser image of thick blond braids and clunky wooden clogs, but that started to be changed somewhat by the dynamic Vanessa Williams character on Ugly Betty, and even further by the choice of Wilhelmina by ace baby namers Natalie and Taylor Hanson. For the less adventurous, Willa is, for now, still a more user-friendly female equivalent of William.
  17. EmeryHeart
    • Origin:

      English from German
    • Meaning:

      "industrious"
    • Description:

      The superpopularity of Emily and Emma has recently boosted the unisex Emery, especially since it became a celebrity baby name when it was chosen by Angie Harmon and Jason Sehorn. Emery now ranks among the girls' Top 100 names in the US, though Emma, Emily, and even Emilia are more popular. Emerson and Emmeline are two other popular girl names in the same vein. Nickname Emmy or Emmie makes it cute and girlish but even more popular given the legion of little Emmys.
  18. IdaHeart
    • Origin:

      German
    • Meaning:

      "industrious one"
    • Description:

      Many vowel names stylish a century ago are coming back, and Ida seems like a possible, logical successor to Ada and Ava.
  19. HeidiHeart
    • Origin:

      Diminutive of Adelheid; German
    • Meaning:

      "noble, nobility"
    • Description:

      Heidi became known—and popular—via the 1880 eponymous children's classic by Swiss writer Johanna Spyri and, despite decades of American Heidis of all sizes, shapes, and personalities, the name seems permanently tethered to that spunky little girl on the Alpine mountaintop in the book and Shirley Temple movie.
  20. LeniHeart
    • Origin:

      German, diminutive of Lena; Spanish, diminutive of Elena
    • Description:

      A foreign nickname name that has never been widely used here — possibly because of its similarity to the outdated male Lenny — it was chosen for her daughter by high-profile German supermodel Heidi Klum.