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ArchivesRe: The rise and fall of Dieter—what happened?
in reply to a message by jonesilove
I don't know of any more or less famous person, who could've ended the Dieter-Era at that time.
Dieter is commonly used as a nickname of Dietrich - most Dieters I know are actually called "Dietrich". So you could say, in a sense, Dieter was popular before 1932.
I guess, it just came out of use, because it was associated with old people.
After the war - especially since the 60s - the type of names given to children changed. Names like Heinrich, Dietrich, Friedrich, Gustav ... that had been used for decades, vanished. New names appeared
Maybe the parents wanted to differentiate from their parents - the nazis.
Dieter actually was part of the top-100 until the late 60s, part of the top-200 until the late 70s - the time of the large movment among students:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_German_student_movement
There was a rapid fall of the name around that time. This suits my explanation above.
I can't say for sure, though.
Dieter is commonly used as a nickname of Dietrich - most Dieters I know are actually called "Dietrich". So you could say, in a sense, Dieter was popular before 1932.
I guess, it just came out of use, because it was associated with old people.
After the war - especially since the 60s - the type of names given to children changed. Names like Heinrich, Dietrich, Friedrich, Gustav ... that had been used for decades, vanished. New names appeared
Maybe the parents wanted to differentiate from their parents - the nazis.
Dieter actually was part of the top-100 until the late 60s, part of the top-200 until the late 70s - the time of the large movment among students:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_German_student_movement
There was a rapid fall of the name around that time. This suits my explanation above.
I can't say for sure, though.
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Replies
Thank you for the thorough write up. The only person I know who bears the name Dieter was born in 1940. I like the theory you have for parents wanting to differentiate their child from older generations of Nazis.
Thank you also for sharing that it was part of the top 100 and 200 later. I had the most difficult time finding any census records of baby names in Germany from the 1960s. I found one source that suggested Dieter may have been popular in the 60s but it didn’t give its place on the rankings.
Thank you also for sharing that it was part of the top 100 and 200 later. I had the most difficult time finding any census records of baby names in Germany from the 1960s. I found one source that suggested Dieter may have been popular in the 60s but it didn’t give its place on the rankings.
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There are no official census records of baby names in Germany at all. There's a german website, that has statistics, which are based on projection: https://www.beliebte-vornamen.de/5159-dieter.htm (you'll be able to read the diagram). This is the best I know for this period.
I can also confirm, what elbowin said, though I think, Dietrich might come back, as many old names are having a revival right now (Dieter probably not, since Dieter Bohlen is still quite popular).
I can also confirm, what elbowin said, though I think, Dietrich might come back, as many old names are having a revival right now (Dieter probably not, since Dieter Bohlen is still quite popular).
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