I don’t know how accurate this website is, but forebears.io has a list of common German names, and the top three are: Peter, Michael, and Wolfgang. Daniel was listed as 171st most popular.
That list is almost exclusively old fashioned names, which, combined with the website name makes me wonder if they’re scraping obituaries for the names. I’ve lived here for most of a decade and I’ve never met a Wolfgang or Ursula under 60 (actually of the top ten, I only know young people named Michael, Peter, Thomas, and Maria). I do know several older Wolfgangs and Helgas, so they certainly were common names at one point-the data might just be 80 years delayed. Actually going through it, all of my husband’s older family members’ names are in the top thirty. (Edit: also no idea how accurate this list is, but the most popular names from the 50s are all the same as on the other list, so I suspect it is just gathering data upon death)
I know at least five Daniels in their 20s and 30s though. I’m a) an immigrant, and b) just going off of my own experience, so take that with a grain of salt.
Quick aside about Maria as a man’s name: it’s traditionally Austrian, afaik, and it’s more commonly a second name (like Rainer Maria Rilke), but there’s no chance that 0% of the Marias in Germany are men.
Daniel can be plausibly American as easily as it can be German. Klaus or Reinhardt sounds American only if it’s someone’s great-grandfather from before WW1, whose parents immigrated in 1848.
I mean, Daniel is a name that was given to 2 of my schoolmates in Italy. And it could be just as well be given to any American in the last 80 years if not more.
I know we all don’t like stereotypes and that English is a Germanic language, but if you are trying to make the point that you are not American but German that is NOT the name I would have chosen.
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I don’t know how accurate this website is, but forebears.io has a list of common German names, and the top three are: Peter, Michael, and Wolfgang. Daniel was listed as 171st most popular.
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That list is almost exclusively old fashioned names, which, combined with the website name makes me wonder if they’re scraping obituaries for the names. I’ve lived here for most of a decade and I’ve never met a Wolfgang or Ursula under 60 (actually of the top ten, I only know young people named Michael, Peter, Thomas, and Maria). I do know several older Wolfgangs and Helgas, so they certainly were common names at one point-the data might just be 80 years delayed. Actually going through it, all of my husband’s older family members’ names are in the top thirty. (Edit: also no idea how accurate this list is, but the most popular names from the 50s are all the same as on the other list, so I suspect it is just gathering data upon death)
I know at least five Daniels in their 20s and 30s though. I’m a) an immigrant, and b) just going off of my own experience, so take that with a grain of salt.
Quick aside about Maria as a man’s name: it’s traditionally Austrian, afaik, and it’s more commonly a second name (like Rainer Maria Rilke), but there’s no chance that 0% of the Marias in Germany are men.
Wolfgang is such a sick name
Yes, yes he should! :D
Honestly, that kind of ad campaign would be so ham-fisted it would be hilarious to watch.
Daniel can be plausibly American as easily as it can be German. Klaus or Reinhardt sounds American only if it’s someone’s great-grandfather from before WW1, whose parents immigrated in 1848.
I mean, Daniel is a name that was given to 2 of my schoolmates in Italy. And it could be just as well be given to any American in the last 80 years if not more.
I know we all don’t like stereotypes and that English is a Germanic language, but if you are trying to make the point that you are not American but German that is NOT the name I would have chosen.