New Post
Search
Help[Opinions] Re: English opinion on German names
in reply to a message by tibby
Willi, Willie, Willy -- usually nicknames for William. Will tends to be a more popular option nowadays, but it wouldn't be weird to meet someone with one of those names.
Fritz -- it isn't commonly used in the U.S., but again, I don't think it would cause issues. If someone really wanted to tease you, then the "on the fritz" association might come up, but it's not like people would just be laughing at the name or think of it in a negative light.
Bent, Bente -- Most people in the U.S. would have trouble with this one, I'm guessing. It doesn't really seem like a name, and I wouldn't be sure how to pronounce it without asking.
Fanny -- Fanny is slang for butt, and even though it's not used all that often (at least where I'm from) it still has that association.
Lion -- Nice, but there would be trouble with pronounciation.
Arian -- Not bad. I'm guessing most people would avoid pronouncing it like Aryan due to negative associations.
Christian -- This is used as name in the U.S. No trouble with it.
Fritz -- it isn't commonly used in the U.S., but again, I don't think it would cause issues. If someone really wanted to tease you, then the "on the fritz" association might come up, but it's not like people would just be laughing at the name or think of it in a negative light.
Bent, Bente -- Most people in the U.S. would have trouble with this one, I'm guessing. It doesn't really seem like a name, and I wouldn't be sure how to pronounce it without asking.
Fanny -- Fanny is slang for butt, and even though it's not used all that often (at least where I'm from) it still has that association.
Lion -- Nice, but there would be trouble with pronounciation.
Arian -- Not bad. I'm guessing most people would avoid pronouncing it like Aryan due to negative associations.
Christian -- This is used as name in the U.S. No trouble with it.
Archived Thread - replies disabled
1
Replies
Thank you!
Willi, Willie, Willy is actually the name with the most criticism of this list. Pretty much all Germans would go like: "Oh my Gosh! That's slang for p*nis!"
"On the fritz" I never heard before. I just always read, that "the Fritz" is slang for "the Germans" and therefore it's not smart to name your kid Fritz - since it might work in an englishspeaking environment.
Bent is pronounced like the vocabulary "to bend - bent - bent". And some germans go nuts about bent being slang for "gay".
Lion is the german spelling of the english pronounciation of Leon.
Willi, Willie, Willy is actually the name with the most criticism of this list. Pretty much all Germans would go like: "Oh my Gosh! That's slang for p*nis!"
"On the fritz" I never heard before. I just always read, that "the Fritz" is slang for "the Germans" and therefore it's not smart to name your kid Fritz - since it might work in an englishspeaking environment.
Bent is pronounced like the vocabulary "to bend - bent - bent". And some germans go nuts about bent being slang for "gay".
Lion is the german spelling of the english pronounciation of Leon.
1
Well, they go nuts for a reason.
It would be really difficult to be named Fanny or Bent in the UK.
Fanny means "vagina" in the UK and "butt" in the US.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl1Zfz-Widc (in this case it's worse because of her surname, but just Fanny would get a similar reaction).
Willy is slang for penis. It's not that bad because not everyone uses it but I wouldn't recommend it either. I think it's used more in the UK as well.
It would be really difficult to be named Fanny or Bent in the UK.
Fanny means "vagina" in the UK and "butt" in the US.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl1Zfz-Widc (in this case it's worse because of her surname, but just Fanny would get a similar reaction).
Willy is slang for penis. It's not that bad because not everyone uses it but I wouldn't recommend it either. I think it's used more in the UK as well.
This message was edited 2/12/2023, 5:01 AM
1
Oh I forgot about the p**** slang. That would be more of an issue for older generations but might cause a giggle or two. Nothing too major.
I never heard that about Fritz being slang for the Germans. It's definitely a distinctly German name but it wouldn't cause problems. In fact I have this suspicion it's about to get trendy here. Fritz for boys, Eudora for girls.
I never heard that about Fritz being slang for the Germans. It's definitely a distinctly German name but it wouldn't cause problems. In fact I have this suspicion it's about to get trendy here. Fritz for boys, Eudora for girls.
1
That's funny, because I've never heard someone in America refer to Germans as "the Fritz". I'm guessing that is more outdated slang. Same goes for Willi/Willie/Willy. Technically, it can be slang for 🍆, but I've never actually heard someone use it and it wouldn't be weird if it was someone's name.
1
That's good to know. Several times parents have been really insecure about Willi as a given name ...
1