German Names

German Names posts walk through first names and surnames in Germany, where strict registry rules still control which first names a parent can choose. Articles look at the most common given names of the past two decades like Mia, Emma, Ben and Noah, the long tradition of Christian names borrowed from saints and Old Testament figures, the role of the Standesamt registrar in approving unusual choices and the long list of common surnames built from occupations (Muller, Schmidt, Bauer) and from places. There are also notes on noble von prefixes and on the regional spelling differences between north and south.