If there is Germanic heritage in your family tree, you may want to consider the old and unique naming custom of the Germans, which goes beyond the usual tradition of naming first sons after the father's father and first daughters after the mother's mother.
In some cases, if a child was given two names at birth, one was considered a spiritual name and the other was considered a secular name. The spiritual name would have been after a saint, such as John, or Johan in German. The secular name would have been the name that the child was known by in everyday life. Two of the most commonly used saint's names for male children were Johan and George.
Although this naming custom slowly died out over a century ago, reviving it within your family could help to bestow a name on your child that combines spirituality and ancestry.
Here are some unique names of Germanic origin that would fit beautifully with a saint's name.
For the boys there are strong sounding names such as:
Amery - meaning "divine."
Aric- meaning "noble leader."
Ballard- meaning "brave."
Barrett- meaning "mighty as a bear."
Burke- meaning "birch tree."
Carsten-meaning "a follower of Christ."
Decker- meaning "man of prayer."
Garen-meaning "guardian."
Harmon- meaning "soldier."
Macon- meaning "maker."
Ritter- meaning "knight."
Truman- meaning "faithful man."
For baby girls, there are also some great names with a Teutonic flair.
Adelaide- meaning "noble and kind."
Alessa- meaning "noble truth."
Amara- meaning "eternal."
Arabella- meaning "beautiful eagle."
Derica- meaning "beloved leader."
Emmaline- meaning "hardworking or industrious."
Ilyse- meaning "noble."
Karlin- meaning "womanly."
Kerstin- meaning "follower of Christ."
Lulu- a variant of Louisa meaning "fights with honor."
Melia- meaning "flatterer."
Steffi-meaning "a garland or crown."
Viveca- meaning "little woman."
A child's name will not just be with them through childhood. Choosing a name that will travel well with them through adulthood is an important consideration. No doubt you will put much thought into your child's name and settle on one that will be pleasing to them for always.
Published by Becky Smith
I served as the Senior Editor of a local parenting publication for 2 years and am now the Layout Editor for OKIE magazine, a local arts, news and entertainment publication.Writing was always my dream job. I... View profile
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Beautiful names.
Beautiful names.
These are all great. Just stay away from Adolf and Fritz :-) - Great article
Interesting list.
Cool names
I tried to convince a friend to name his first son Tonka Von Truckenshire. He hasn't gotten back to me on his thoughts of the name yet.
Karlin is a pretty name:-)
"Kerstin" is my best friends little girls name..I had no idea what it meant though..:)
I love this !!!