German Names

Conceivable middle name choice for admirers of flyer Amelia.

You've got the red-nosed reindeer to transcend, but there are other distinguished personages named Rudolph, Rudolf, and Rudy.

All Adolph variations are best avoided, though this takes some of the onus off.

Variant of Julianne

In its native Germany, Gerhard was very popular a hundred years ago and is now rather old-fashioned. It isn't much used by English speakers either, but has a certain clunky charm about it.

Tatjana is an interesting twist on an already uncommon name, borne by German-born supermodel Tatjana Patitz. Note that as j is pronounced as y in German, the name is spoken just like sisters Tatiana and Tatyana.

Name of Faulkner's great emotional villain in As I Lay Dying, Anse is not ordinarily used as a first name. It literally means cove in French, though the element ans means God in Old German and is found in names such as Ansel and Anselm.

While Ilise is unusual, the E version is more attractive.

The German short form Liesa is usually pronounced lee-za, but most people in America will say it like Lisa -- or, just to annoy you, Liza.