German Names

With a soft e, sounds like an affected pronunciation of Rita.

Alda's brother name Aldo has been a mainstay of the U.S. popularity chart for decades now, and the related Alden is soaring up as well. This version has never really caught on. (Maybe it's the association with Alan Alda: great actor, unlikely namesake for a little girl.) However, there is possible hope now that Alba and Alma are on the rise. Aida and Arden are more familiar alternatives.

Theodoric feels prehistoric, though with short form Theo one of the hottest names around, this old German names for boys may soon feel new again.

Diminutive of Maxine, Maxima or Maximiliane

German philosopher and revolutionary socialist Karl Marx will be most people's immediate association with this uncommon name. The author of The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital is widely considered to be the father of international communism.

See RETA.

This is one of the least known or used of the Theo names, quite possibly because of its last syllable. In Samuel Butler's 1903 novel The Way of All Flesh, there is a clergyman character named Theobald Pontifex.

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

This is a rarely heard multi-cultural name, related to a 14th century Jewish scholar named Kalonymous ben Kalonymous, who translated important texts from Arabic to Hebrew. It is also a Hungarian derivative of Colman, via the Latin Columba, meaning dove, and was the name of a 12th century king of Hungary. Its modern sound make it an interesting option.

This surname-name originated as a nickname for redheads.

Although the saintly Gratia was male -- Blessed Gratia of Kotor -- this name feels quite female today.

Clunky Gertrude is heading towards obscurity in the US, but here's a variation that might intrigue - Gesine, also spelled Gesina.

Irrevocably tied to long-lived, controversial South Carolina senator Strom (born James) Thurman; Strom, which sounds like an anagram of Storm, was his mother's maiden name. With a stretch, you might consider this one of the German names for boysthat's also a nature name.