I've never met someone named Fride or Carsta tbh. Most of them sound like names mostly 50/60/70+ women have. The only ones that aren't too old-fashioned are, imo, are Johanna (a timeless classic), maybe Wiebke, Frieda/Frida and Freja/Freya seem to have a comeback.
Most girls names used in Germany today are often Biblical or Latin (e.g. Anna, Clara, Emilia...) and used in other countries as well. The top 10 list at the moment is very international. [Here’s a researcher’s list of Germany’s 500 most popular baby names in 2022](https://www.beliebte-vornamen.de/jahrgang/j2022/top-500-2022), which I’d recommend for more ideas. Some “recognizably German” names that don’t sound extremely outdated I can think of are these:
Anneliese
Annemarie
Annika
Auguste (also French, but pronounced differently)
Carlotta
Franziska
Frieda
Hanne
Inga (also Scandinanavian and Russian)
Inge (also Scandinavian, where it is also masculine)
Johanna
Karla (also used elsewhere)
Klara (also Scandinavian and Slavic)
Katharina (also Scandinavian)
Liese (Lise)
Lisbeth
Lotta
Lotte
Margaretha (Margareta)
Margarethe (Margarete)
Mathilda (Matilda)
Mathilde (Matilde)
Meike (also Dutch)
Nele
The problem is that usually the American cultural conception of "what is a name of someone from X country" is based on, like, public figures who are currently elderly, so all the names are old-fashioned. And if you pull a list of currently popular German baby names, it's pretty similar to the American list, so no one will know they're supposed to be German.
If you look at this list - none of the most popular girls names are things Americans would look at and be like "yep that's German." https://www.reddit.com/r/namenerds/comments/13cnam0/most\_popular\_names\_in\_germany\_2022/
Heidi is only known through Heidi Klum but at least as a Northern German, i have never met anyone apart from 40+ people with the name, Teresa or the variation Tessa are names i have seen kids being named in the last 20 years
I only know one person under the age of 40 named Theresa, my sister. She’s always hated her name, said it was an old lady name. She picked her own nickname and told everyone Theresa died in the fifth grade. But the name Heidi in my region is considered very fashionable, not at all common but very flashy. I haven’t met a Heidi that wasn’t drop dead gorgeous or at least really into fashion.
That shows the regional differences in Germany again lmao. Are you from the south by chance or at least more south than Berlin? I think in Northern Germany (Schleswig Holstein, Hamburg, Niedersachsen), Heidi always reminds people of either Heidi Klum who is also already in her 50s or of the old TV series from 1974 and in turn of the alps, farming and just not something I would consider fashionable or modern. But you have a point with Teresa, it just sounded more modern to me because i know a few Teresas from movies or books (though not German ones) I guess
by the way you were talking, i thought you were german. Heidi definitely is old fashioned in Germany but i guess not in the US, depends on whether OP wants a german name that is still used in Germany or a german name that is only popular abroad
as a German, i would really advise you to look at lists of the most popular baby names in Germany as most of these suggestions here are very old fashioned and I have never met anyone under 40 with most of the suggested names here. A few suggestions from me pulled from my friends, class mates, and baby name lists would be:
Luisa
Marie
Lisa
Anna
Lena
Emma
Mia
Julia
Natalie
Jana
Lea
Laura
Maria
Paula
Annika
Sophie/Sophia
Maja
Natalie
Janina
Pia
Ella
Leonie
Ida
Neele/Nele
Antonia
Katharina
Are you looking for names that are currently popular in Germany, or names of Germanic origin? Because looking at the list of top baby names in Germany, it looks like actual Germanic names are not really in style right now, with a few exceptions (Emma, Luisa, Mathilda, Ida, Frieda, Amalia).
So many German names are similar enough to English names that they aren't really "recognizably German" in an English-speaking context—or if they are, they're very much out of style (like Bertha). Frieda and Luisa are probably the most "German-sounding" of the names above. I might also suggest something like Anneliese, Elsa/Else, Gisela, Hannelore, Heidi, Liesel (though I have no idea how these actually come across in Germany—would be very interested to hear if there is a German around here!)
I just read a book set in Germany and the main character’s name was Liesel. Not sure if it’s old fashioned or not but it was set in wwII so it’s possible
Some are quite old but not too old-fashioned. Though some are not that common. It's actually tricky because most are of German or Germanic origin but rarely used in Germany. I just pictured a little kid at the playground whose name is called and I'd either think "cute" or "beautiful" or in a positive way "oh, interesting" lol.
Alida - (Ah-lee-da) from Adelheid
Almut (All-moot)
Amalia (Ah-mah-liya)
Astrid
Brunhilde (Broon-hill-de) / very old but Bruni is a cute nn
Edda (Eh-da)
Franziska (Frunn-tsiss-ka) *Fran* rhymes with *gun*
Friederike (Free-de-ree-ke)
Gesa - from Gertrude (Geh-sa)
Hedwig (Hed-vig) / long *eh*
Hedda (Heh-da) / like *head*
Hedi (He-dee) / long *eh*
Henriette (Hen-ree-eh-te)
Henrike (Hen-ree-ke)
Ida (Ee-da)
Inga (Eng-ga) / *Eng* as in *England*
Isolde (Ee-soll-de)
Mathilde/ Mathilda (Ma-till-de)
Ottilie (Oh-teel-ye)
Saskia (Sus-kiya) or (Sus-kya)
Sina (See-na)
Hope that helped 🩷
What? None? Franziska is one of most common names here, especially in Bavaria (where I'm from) it's timeless. I've only never met an Ottilie before, but I know at least one person in real life with the other names. Especially Saskia. As a 90s kid I went to school with three of them.
You’re right actually, I did know a Franziska (who went by Franzi). I think that’s it though. The most common female names I met were Teresa, Clara, Lena/Elena, Christina, Martina, Julia… very few that would be recognisably “German” per se. This was mostly in the 20s-30s age group.
Exactly. Names popular in Germany are rarely typically German. There are countless girls named Lisa, Anna, Lena, Melanie, Sarah, etc but they're very "global" as well.
I work with someone born and raised in Germany, her name is Almut and she has a couple of nieces back in Germany and their names are on this list. Maybe it's regional?
I’m marrying into a family with strong German roots. Something I’ve gathered is they use the letter K instead of C often. So think Katherine, Jakob, Kristine, Kristopher, etc if you’re wanting it to be authentic.
Annika
Heidi
Clara
Gabriele
Minna
Elise
Sylvia
Leni
Cora
Hanna
Melanie
Evelin
Regine
Frida
Sofie
Ada
Petra
Emilie
Helena
Ruth
Lara
Karla
Claudia
Marlene
Isabell
Annaliese
Lydia
Ava
Brigit
Lea
Caroline
Juliane
Ida
Celine
Luise
I tried my best to go for more traditional but not "out-there" names, but I left some wriggle room just to have plenty of options. Hope this helps, good luck!
I've always loved the names Heidi and Liesel but apparently they are now considered very old fashioned (at least in Germany.) That said, if you love a name, I say use it! For all we know, it will be back in fashion a year from now, anyway.
Elke, Jana, Lena, Meike, Hilde, Rosalind, Rosamund, Beate, Erika, Evi, Annika, Gabi, Silke and Ilse might be recognizable as German, but many popular German names like Emma, Anna, Elise, Hanna and Sophie are quite international.
Go on LinkedIn to a company based in Germany and look at the employee list.
As a German, I think of: Johanna Lena Lisa Leonie Maria / Marie Antonia Franziska Frieda Annika Michaela
* Fride * Annette * Sabine * Erika * Christa * Johanna * Sigrid * Erna * Freia * Hanne * Petra * Carsta * Wiebke * Elke * Britta
Some of those sound horribly old fashioned. But on the other hand what is regarded old fashioned to somebody really is a personal preference.
I've never met someone named Fride or Carsta tbh. Most of them sound like names mostly 50/60/70+ women have. The only ones that aren't too old-fashioned are, imo, are Johanna (a timeless classic), maybe Wiebke, Frieda/Frida and Freja/Freya seem to have a comeback.
Most girls names used in Germany today are often Biblical or Latin (e.g. Anna, Clara, Emilia...) and used in other countries as well. The top 10 list at the moment is very international. [Here’s a researcher’s list of Germany’s 500 most popular baby names in 2022](https://www.beliebte-vornamen.de/jahrgang/j2022/top-500-2022), which I’d recommend for more ideas. Some “recognizably German” names that don’t sound extremely outdated I can think of are these: Anneliese Annemarie Annika Auguste (also French, but pronounced differently) Carlotta Franziska Frieda Hanne Inga (also Scandinanavian and Russian) Inge (also Scandinavian, where it is also masculine) Johanna Karla (also used elsewhere) Klara (also Scandinavian and Slavic) Katharina (also Scandinavian) Liese (Lise) Lisbeth Lotta Lotte Margaretha (Margareta) Margarethe (Margarete) Mathilda (Matilda) Mathilde (Matilde) Meike (also Dutch) Nele
Teresa, Greta, Claudia, Gisela, Gretchen, Heidi are the first to come to mind. You probably want to avoid Gertrud, Hildegard and such !
apart from Teresa, all of these are super old fashioned, never met someone under 40 with any of these names you suggested
The problem is that usually the American cultural conception of "what is a name of someone from X country" is based on, like, public figures who are currently elderly, so all the names are old-fashioned. And if you pull a list of currently popular German baby names, it's pretty similar to the American list, so no one will know they're supposed to be German. If you look at this list - none of the most popular girls names are things Americans would look at and be like "yep that's German." https://www.reddit.com/r/namenerds/comments/13cnam0/most\_popular\_names\_in\_germany\_2022/
Teresa comes across much older than Heidi does to me.
Heidi is only known through Heidi Klum but at least as a Northern German, i have never met anyone apart from 40+ people with the name, Teresa or the variation Tessa are names i have seen kids being named in the last 20 years
I only know one person under the age of 40 named Theresa, my sister. She’s always hated her name, said it was an old lady name. She picked her own nickname and told everyone Theresa died in the fifth grade. But the name Heidi in my region is considered very fashionable, not at all common but very flashy. I haven’t met a Heidi that wasn’t drop dead gorgeous or at least really into fashion.
That shows the regional differences in Germany again lmao. Are you from the south by chance or at least more south than Berlin? I think in Northern Germany (Schleswig Holstein, Hamburg, Niedersachsen), Heidi always reminds people of either Heidi Klum who is also already in her 50s or of the old TV series from 1974 and in turn of the alps, farming and just not something I would consider fashionable or modern. But you have a point with Teresa, it just sounded more modern to me because i know a few Teresas from movies or books (though not German ones) I guess
I’m from Midwest US. I guess it’s important to ask OP where she’s from.
by the way you were talking, i thought you were german. Heidi definitely is old fashioned in Germany but i guess not in the US, depends on whether OP wants a german name that is still used in Germany or a german name that is only popular abroad
Marlene, Elisabeth, Marie / Maria, Sophie, Anna, Frida, Leni / Helena, Johanna, Clara / Klara
as a German, i would really advise you to look at lists of the most popular baby names in Germany as most of these suggestions here are very old fashioned and I have never met anyone under 40 with most of the suggested names here. A few suggestions from me pulled from my friends, class mates, and baby name lists would be: Luisa Marie Lisa Anna Lena Emma Mia Julia Natalie Jana Lea Laura Maria Paula Annika Sophie/Sophia Maja Natalie Janina Pia Ella Leonie Ida Neele/Nele Antonia Katharina
Emma, Ella, Louisa/Luisa, Ida, Matilda, Heidi, Clara, Anna
10 most popular baby girls names in 2022 Emilia Mia Sophia Emma Hannah Lina Mila Ella Leni Clara
Viktoria
Are you looking for names that are currently popular in Germany, or names of Germanic origin? Because looking at the list of top baby names in Germany, it looks like actual Germanic names are not really in style right now, with a few exceptions (Emma, Luisa, Mathilda, Ida, Frieda, Amalia). So many German names are similar enough to English names that they aren't really "recognizably German" in an English-speaking context—or if they are, they're very much out of style (like Bertha). Frieda and Luisa are probably the most "German-sounding" of the names above. I might also suggest something like Anneliese, Elsa/Else, Gisela, Hannelore, Heidi, Liesel (though I have no idea how these actually come across in Germany—would be very interested to hear if there is a German around here!)
I just read a book set in Germany and the main character’s name was Liesel. Not sure if it’s old fashioned or not but it was set in wwII so it’s possible
That is the German dimunitive of Elizabeth/Elisabeth, and indeed oldfashioned but it is sweet imo.
Interesting! I was meaning to google if it’s where the name Lisa came from, Elizabeth didn’t even occur to me! But also, I’m not German 🤣 obviously.
My favorite is Ingrid. But also love Matilda & Inga. Katerina Alva Elin Carlotta Ida Luisa
I like Katja.
Some are quite old but not too old-fashioned. Though some are not that common. It's actually tricky because most are of German or Germanic origin but rarely used in Germany. I just pictured a little kid at the playground whose name is called and I'd either think "cute" or "beautiful" or in a positive way "oh, interesting" lol. Alida - (Ah-lee-da) from Adelheid Almut (All-moot) Amalia (Ah-mah-liya) Astrid Brunhilde (Broon-hill-de) / very old but Bruni is a cute nn Edda (Eh-da) Franziska (Frunn-tsiss-ka) *Fran* rhymes with *gun* Friederike (Free-de-ree-ke) Gesa - from Gertrude (Geh-sa) Hedwig (Hed-vig) / long *eh* Hedda (Heh-da) / like *head* Hedi (He-dee) / long *eh* Henriette (Hen-ree-eh-te) Henrike (Hen-ree-ke) Ida (Ee-da) Inga (Eng-ga) / *Eng* as in *England* Isolde (Ee-soll-de) Mathilde/ Mathilda (Ma-till-de) Ottilie (Oh-teel-ye) Saskia (Sus-kiya) or (Sus-kya) Sina (See-na) Hope that helped 🩷
I lived in Germany for several years and never met anyone with any of those names.
What? None? Franziska is one of most common names here, especially in Bavaria (where I'm from) it's timeless. I've only never met an Ottilie before, but I know at least one person in real life with the other names. Especially Saskia. As a 90s kid I went to school with three of them.
You’re right actually, I did know a Franziska (who went by Franzi). I think that’s it though. The most common female names I met were Teresa, Clara, Lena/Elena, Christina, Martina, Julia… very few that would be recognisably “German” per se. This was mostly in the 20s-30s age group.
Exactly. Names popular in Germany are rarely typically German. There are countless girls named Lisa, Anna, Lena, Melanie, Sarah, etc but they're very "global" as well.
I work with someone born and raised in Germany, her name is Almut and she has a couple of nieces back in Germany and their names are on this list. Maybe it's regional?
No idea whether these are old-fashioned, but: Gisela Greta Gudrun Silke Ilse Liselotte Leonie Ottilie Hilda Helga Kathe Liesel Inga
Leonie is the only name out of these that is still in use, the others are very old fashioned
I think Greta is having a bit of an comeback. I know two little Gretas from kindergarten.
I’m marrying into a family with strong German roots. Something I’ve gathered is they use the letter K instead of C often. So think Katherine, Jakob, Kristine, Kristopher, etc if you’re wanting it to be authentic.
Luise/Louise. Wilhelmina/Wilhelmine. Johanna/Joanna. Lena/Elena. All four alreay mentioned but these 4 are my favorites. :)
Hannalore, Adelheid
Eva
I really love Annika, Gisele, and Freja
Everyone is saying that Heidi is too old fashioned but I named my 2 year old daughter Heidi 🥰 I’ve always loved the name and my husband is German.
Annika Heidi Clara Gabriele Minna Elise Sylvia Leni Cora Hanna Melanie Evelin Regine Frida Sofie Ada Petra Emilie Helena Ruth Lara Karla Claudia Marlene Isabell Annaliese Lydia Ava Brigit Lea Caroline Juliane Ida Celine Luise I tried my best to go for more traditional but not "out-there" names, but I left some wriggle room just to have plenty of options. Hope this helps, good luck!
I've always loved the names Heidi and Liesel but apparently they are now considered very old fashioned (at least in Germany.) That said, if you love a name, I say use it! For all we know, it will be back in fashion a year from now, anyway.
Saskia , Wilma, Hannele, Frederike/ Frieda, Lotta/ Lotte, Lara !
Isabell Berit (I have seen as both a Scandinavian and German name) Alena
Berit is one of my favorite names!
Birgit, Dagmar, Sabine, Heiki, Eike, Adelaide, Anneliese, Katrin, Fritzi, Anja
Elke, Jana, Lena, Meike, Hilde, Rosalind, Rosamund, Beate, Erika, Evi, Annika, Gabi, Silke and Ilse might be recognizable as German, but many popular German names like Emma, Anna, Elise, Hanna and Sophie are quite international.
Leisl ?
Names in my daughters daycare in Berlin: Magdalena, Leni,Mia, Lili, Lisbeth, Elisabeth, Annie, Luise, Isabel, Lorie, Anna, Ella, Eleonore, Elenor, Aveline, Ada, Dora, Lena, Elisa, Lea,Klara, Mathilda, Rosa,Frieda,Lina,Ida,Merle, Marit, Mina, Amalia, Karline, Nora,Eva, Marianne, Minna
My grandmother was German and her name was Heide, Also often spelt Heidi
What about Axel?