German Boy Names

Confessional memoirist Augusten Burroughs is the first literary notable to bear one of this family of names since the confessional saint.

Less commercial-sounding than Brand.

Selig comes from the Yiddish vocabulary word meaning 'happy, fortunate, blessed.' Most of us are more familiar with its Woody Allen variation, Zelig.

Concise and clipped European version of the earnest Ernest.

A name used in Germany and Holland as a form of Jerome, it's the unlikely moniker of fictional detective Hieronymous "Harry" Bosch.

Conjures up the military image of Fort Benning in Georgia — or the surname of actress Annette.

Earthbound surname that few would make as first choice.

Most famous as the name of King Pepin the Short, this choice might feel somewhat belittling. The even-shorter form is Pippin, a name adopted for musical theater, and the Dutch form Pepijn is in that country's Top 100.

Hip short form of Bernard, also Swiss place-name.

One you might like for its cozy meaning, but there is that Pied Piper rat connection.

Futuristic, in a 1930s kind of way.

The name of a monk who is the patron saint of blacksmiths -- not a twentieth-century occupation or baby name.

This name is related to Derek and Dietrich, either of which would be preferable.

All anyone will think of is the Fonz.

A preppy surname of hidden German origin that would fit right in with currently trendy s-ending boy names like Brooks.