Names That Mean German

Likely to be construed as a virtue name (a nice one, at that!), even though Willing is a traditional surname with both English and German roots. As an English name, Willing is a patronymic form of Willa. In German, it's a patronym from Wille, a variation of Ville, which is related to William.

Lutza is largely unknown in the English-speaking world and might remain that way, due to its resemblance to klutz.

Anno is an extreme rarity: a simple, familiar-sounding name with deep history that is completely unknown in the US and rare in its native Germany. Anno is the name of a saint also known as Hanno, a 10th century archbishop of Cologne also known as Hanno of Worms.

A handful of baby girls are still named Carlene every year, but today other feminizations of Charles or Carl, from Carly to Charlotte, are much more popular.

We don't recommend using a baby name in which "meth" is the first syllable. Try the original form, Meta, instead.

Not only did rocker John Mellencamp name his son Speck, but he appended the middle name Wildhorse to it.

Still verboten, even with a French accent.

Although the international Arman is traditionally a male name, we have heard it used for girls.

Emmelina, which can rhyme with "keener" or "liner", is a frillier and much less common version of Emmeline. While Emmeline was in the US Top 1000 girl names in 2022, Emmelina was given to fewer than 5 girls, so it didn't even make it into the extended baby name charts.

Marks is a surname that independently arose in several languages, most all of them as a patronymic form of Mark. Among Jewish families, Marks is typically a variation of Marx. Marx was a given name derived from Marcus that Ashkenazi Jews used as a Germanized form of Mordechai.