Languages › German German First Names and Their English Equivalents Share Flipboard Email Print Andrew Bret Wallis/DigitalVision/Getty Images German Vocabulary History & Culture Pronunciation & Conversation Grammar By Hyde Flippo German Expert Hyde Flippo taught the German language for 28 years at high school and college levels and published several books on the German language and culture. our editorial process Hyde Flippo Updated July 14, 2019 Anyone researching names soon becomes aware that, because of spelling variations and other changes, it is often difficult to determine the true origin of a name, particularly family names. Many names were altered (Americanized, anglicized) for various reasons. Just one example: The German last name Schön (beautiful) became Shane, a change that deceptively hides its German origin. Not all German first or last names have an English equivalent, but many do. We won't bother with obvious ones like Adolf, Christoph, Dorothea (dor-o-taya), Georg (gay-org), Michael (meech-ah-el), Monika (mow-ni-kah), Thomas (tow-mas), or Wilhelm (vil-helm). They may be pronounced differently but the resemblance is hard to miss. First Names (Vornamen) Adalbert/Albrecht (Albert) Alois (Aloysius) Anja/Antje/Anke (Anna) Bärbel (Barbara) Beke (north German form of Bertha) Bernd/Bernt (Bernard) Birgit (Swedish form of Brigitte, which is actually a Celtic name) Dolf (short form from names ending in - dolf) Dorle (Dora, Dot, Dorothy) Eugen (oy-gen, Eugene) Franz (Frank) Gabi (form of Gabriele) Gerhard (Gerald) Gottfried (Geoffrey, Jeffrey, Godfrey) Greta (Margaret) Hans/Jens/Johann(es) (Jack, John, Jonathan) Heinrich/Heino/Heinz (Henry) Ilse (Elizabeth) Jakob (James) Jörg/Jürgen (George) Jutta (Judy/Judith) Karl/Karla (Charles/Carol) Karsten/Carsten/Kersten (variation of Christian) Katrin (C/Katherine) Kirsten/Kirstin (Christine) Lars (Larry), Leni (Helen/e) Ludwig (Lewis/Louis) Margit (Martha) Matthias (Mathew) Nastasja (Anastasia), Nils (Nick) Ninja (neen-ya, Nina) Peer (Peter) Reinhold (Reginald) Renate (Renee) Rolf (Rudolph) Rüdiger/Rudi (Roger, Rudolph) Sepp (form of Joseph) Silke (Frisian form of Cecily/Cecilia) Steffi (Stephanie) Thea (short form of Dorothea) Theo (Theodore) Wim (form of Wilhelm). Female German First Names These female german names do not have an English equivalent. Ada/Adda Adelheid (Heidi is the familiar form) Astrid, Beate, Brunhild(e) Dagmar (from Danish) Dietrun Effi/Elfriede/Elfi Eike (also male) Elke Frauke Friedel (related to Elfriede) Gerda Gerlinde Gertrud(e) Gisela Gunthild(e) Harmke Hedwig Heidrun Heike Helga Hilde/Hildegard Hildrun Hilke Imke Irma Irmgard Irmtraud Ingeborg Kai Kriemhild Ludmilla Marlene Mathilde Meinhild Ottilie Roswitha Senta Sieglinde Sigrid Sigrun Sonja Tanja (from Russian) Theda Tilla/Tilli Traude Trudi Ulrike Una Ursula/Uschi Ute/Uta Waltraud Wilhelmine Winifred Male First Names These male german names do not have an English equivalent. Achim Bodo/Bot(h)o Dagobert (no, not Dogbert!) Detlef/Detlev Dieter, Dietmar Dirk Eberhard Eckehard/Eckart Egon Emil (masculine form of Emily, Emilio in Span) Engelbert Erhard/Erhart Falko Gandolf Gerd/Gert, Golo, Gunt(h)er Gustav (from Swedish) Hartmut, Hartwig Helge Helmut Holger (from Danish) Horst Ingomar Joachim (Achim) Kai Knut Manfred Norbert Odo/Udo Otmar Otto Rainer (rye-ner) Reinhold Siegfried Siegmund/Sigmund Sönk Torsten/Thorsten Till Ulf Ulrich/Uli Uwe Veit Vilmar Volker Waldemar Wern(h)er Wieland Wigand Wolfgang Wolfram Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Flippo, Hyde. "German First Names and Their English Equivalents." ThoughtCo, Aug. 26, 2020, thoughtco.com/learn-genealogy-vocabulary-in-german-4090236. Flippo, Hyde. (2020, August 26). German First Names and Their English Equivalents. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/learn-genealogy-vocabulary-in-german-4090236 Flippo, Hyde. "German First Names and Their English Equivalents." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/learn-genealogy-vocabulary-in-german-4090236 (accessed April 13, 2021). copy citation