German Dog Names

Sweet but sleek, and distinctive, Liesl is an old German nickname-name for Elisabeth. It might have once seemed inextricably tied to to its country of origin, but now, like Elsa, Enzo, Saoirse, Freya, Soren, and Heidi, it leans more towards being international and European chic.

Innocent, sincere, and bright-eyed, and as outdated as its mother name, Gertrude.

Both Karla and Carla are sliding down the ranks, though Karla remains far more popular in the USA than Carla.

Levin, known in the U.S. mostly as a surname, is a Top 100 boys' name in Germany. There have been saints with variations of this name, whose meaning relates to love.

Though she has long stood on her own, Elke has many longer cross-cultural connections, to the Dutch/German/Scandinavian Adelheid and Alice and the English Adelaide, as a feminine version of Elkanah and as a Yiddish form of Eleanor.

This presidential name is in style limbo today - or, some might say, in the the sweet spot of familiar but little-used.

Whether you pronounce it my-a, ma-zha or ma-ha, Maja is an intriguing choice. Sometimes associated with Goya's famous painting "The Naked Maja." As a cognate of Maya, it's a Top 10 name in Slovenia and Sweden and is also popular in Germany and Norway.

Malina is a synthetic-feeling name that may be a feminization of the Scottish Malcolm or a spelling twist on the Greek Melina and that also has a fruit meaning in several Eastern European languages. For all that it's a little bit of lots of things, Malina doesn't feel very much like itself.

The connection to Freud is a strong one, but this German name has a strong and interesting sound and great nickname potential: Ziggy, Iggy, Sim, Sid...

Ever since the enormous German cannon was dubbed by Allied soldiers "Big Bertha" in World War I, this name hasn't worked for a sweet little baby girl. But this was not always so. Hard as it might be to imagine now, Bertha was a Top 100 name until the 1930s, and in the 1880s was the seventh most popular name in the land--the equal of Joseph.

Kaiser, as in roll and Wilhelm, appeared for the first time on the US Top 1000 in 2017. It fits the two-syllable -er ending style that's all the rage, and it lends itself to the short form Kai. But we hope this Germanic version of what is essentially a title rather than a name doesn't keep rising on the charts.

As heavy as a marble bust of Beethoven.

A daring middle name possibility for classical concertgoers. Alternatives are Wolfgang and Amadeus.

The unusual-to-the-English-ear Moritz is a Top 25 name in Austria and a form of Maurice or Morris, which are modern variations of the ancient Roman Maurus. There were several early saints named Maurus and a famous 3rd century Saint Maurice, who was a Roman infantryman who was martyred when he refused to worship Roman gods. The Moritz form also references the posh Swiss ski resort St. Moritz and Justine Moritz is a character from Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein.

Ulrich has ancient roots — it was derived from the Old High German name Uodalrich (also spelled Odalric). Ulrich was a common given name in medieval Germany, when it was associated with St. Ulrich of Augsburg. St. Ulrich is the patron saint of pregnant women and easy births.

Marlene Dietrich made it famous when she condensed her first two names, Maria and Magdalena. Now more often pronounced with two syllables rather than three.

Subtract the last two letters of Arnold, and you're left with a much more modern-sounding name. Arno is also the name of the main river in Florence, upon which sits the famed Ponte Vecchio. The Italian river name means "flowing water".

The traditional German spelling of this name, used by Goethe, Bach and many other luminaries. Familiar in the US, but retains an Olde World feel, for better and worse.

Oskar is to Oscar as Jakob is to Jacob: more distinctive and continental.

Ilsa is remembered as the radiant but tragic heroine of "Casablanca," and it's having something of a European resurgence.