Late Period German Masculine Given Names
Articles > Names

Late Period German Masculine Given Names

by Talan Gwynek (Brian M. Scott)
scott@math.csuohio.edu

This article presents some lists of names from two regions of Germany. Keep in mind that name distributions varied from one place to another, so the two sets of data cannot be freely mixed. However, they can probably be taken as a general guide to given names in much of late-period Germany.

These data were compiled from two sources:

  • Roland Mulch, Arnsburger Personennamen: Untersuchungen zum Namenmaterial aus Arnsburger Urkunden vom 13. - 16. Jahrhundert (Darmstadt and Marburg: Hessischen Historischen Kommission Darmstadt and the Historischen Kommission für Hessen, 1974).
  • Volkmar Hellfritzsch, Vogtländische Personennamen (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1969).

Name Frequency

Plauen

The following tables list the most frequent men's names from the area around Plauen (in what was East Germany, at its common border with Czechoslovakia and the former West Germany). I have combined records from the four towns with those from the surrounding villages and countryside. The total number of persons named is 1280 for the earlier period; for the later it is 4204. The data are taken from Hellfritzsch.

1451-1500
1501-1550
Johannes 397 Johannes 1018
Nikolaus 287 Nikolaus 615
Heinrich 86 Georg 218
Ehrhart 74 Ehrhart 203
Konrad 67 Jobst 183
Peter 43 Wolf(gang) 173
Georg 35 Peter 154
Lorenz 27 Heinrich 135
Friedrich 24 Konrad 121
Michel 24 Lorenz 111

Alphabetical Lists

Four lists are available. The Arnsburg list, from Mulch, is a catalogue of names recorded in the vicinity of Arnsburg in the 15th century. The Plauen lists, from Hellfritzsch, are lists of names first recorded in the Plauen area, organized by 50-year blocks.

Names from 15th Century Arnsburg

These names are extracted from Roland Mulch, Arnsburger Personennamen: Untersuchungen zum Namenmaterial aus Arnsburger Urkunden vom 13. - 16. Jahrhundert (Darmstadt and Marburg: Hessischen Historischen Kommission Darmstadt and the Historischen Kommission für Hessen, 1974).

Mulch covers only the 15th century. He lists the following names as occurring in the vicinity of Arnsburg in this period. The capitalization is according to Mulch. The notes are mine.

Bechtram
Bernhart
Bechtold
Bestian Form of Sebastian, I suspect.
Bestigenn
brandan
brandauwe
Ciliacks
Clas
Conrad
Cune Pet form of Conrad, I believe.
Contze Pet form of Conrad.
Dyderich
Emrich
frantz
Friderich
Garnerius
Gerhard
Gerlach
Gernant
Gotfrid
Hanczel Diminutive of Hans which is from Johan(nes);;analogous to Johnny.
Hartman
Hartung
Heinrich
Heintze Dimin. of Heinrich.
Henne Dimin. of Johannes.
Joachim
Johann
Castiel
Ludewig
Lumpo
Marckel
Mathys
Mertze/Mirtze
Nicolaus
Otte
Roricus
Rudolff
Ruleman
Rupertus
Syele
Syfryd A worn down and much more common form of Siegfried.
steffen
Stoffel Dimin. of Christoffel i.e., Christopher.
Thomas
Vlrich i.e. Ulrich.
Valentin
Wasmudt
Wernher
Wetzell
Wikenant
Wilhelm
Winther


Names from 14th Century Plauen

These names are extracted from Volkmar Hellfritzsch, Vogtländische Personennamen (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1969).

Hellfritzsch sorted names according to their first recorded occurance in his region, and then divided the data into 50-year blocks. Most of these names remained in use through the end of our period. I suspect that Eys is an exception which fell out of use fairly soon after the 14th century, and that Dionysius was rare at any time. Lupoldus very probably lost its latinate ending and continued in use as Lupold. However, please keep in mind that these lists are not exhaustive and bear no relation to the frequency of individual names.

In each column, names of Germanic origin are listed in the first section, and names of Christian or Latin origin in the second.

Germanic Christian
Up to 1300 1301-1350 1351-1400 Up to 1300 1301-1350 1351-1400


 
Albert
Dietrich
Eberhart
Eckehart
Gottfried
Heinrich
Helwig
Hermann
Hildebold
Konrad
Lupoldus
Otto
Richolf
Siboto
Siegfried
Walter
Heidenrich
Luther
Ruprecht
Wittig
Ehrhart
Eys
Hertel
Markwart
Meinhart
Merel
Rudolf
Sieghart
Ulmann
Ulrich
Werner
 
Johannes
Jordan
Nikolaus
Peter
Andreas
Matthäus
Dionysius
Franz
Jakob
Lorenz
Martin
Michel
Paul
Simon


Names from 15th Century Plauen

These names are extracted from Volkmar Hellfritzsch, Vogtländische Personennamen (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1969).

Hellfritzsch sorted names according to their first recorded occurance in his region, and then divided the data into 50-year blocks. Most of these names -- probably all of them -- remained in use through the end of our period. Therefore, for a more complete list of names in use in the 15th century, you should also contact the lists name first occurances from the 14th century. However, please keep in mind that these lists are not exhaustive and bear no relation to the frequency of individual names.

In each column, names of Germanic origin are listed in the first section, and names of Christian or Latin origin in the second.

Germanic Christian
1401-1450 1451-1500 1401-1450 1451-1500


Bertold
Gerbrecht
Gerhart
Günther
Herel
Ludwig
Nopel
Örtel
Burghart
Engelhart
Hartmann
Leonhart
Oswald
Siegismund
Siegmund
Wilhelm
 
Adam
Ägidius
Augustin
Bartholomäus
Benedikt
Christian
Christoph
Gregor
Hieronymus
Jobst
Kaspar
Markus
Philipp
Sebastian
Stefan
Theodor
Veit
Vinzenz
Wenzel
 
Georg
Jakob
Thomas


Names from 16th Century Plauen

These names are extracted from Volkmar Hellfritzsch , Vogtländische Personennamen (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1969).

Hellfritzsch sorted names according to their first recorded occurance in his region, and then divided the data into 50-year blocks. Most of these names -- probably all of them -- remained in use through the end of our period. Therefore, for a more complete list of names in use in the 16th century, you should also contact the lists name first occurances from the 14th and 15th centuries. However, please keep in mind that these lists are not exhaustive and bear no relation to the frequency of individual names.

In each column, names of Germanic origin are listed in the first section, and names of Christian or Latin origin in the second.

Germanic Christian
1501-1550     1551-1600 1501-1550     1551-1600

  
Arnold
Hildebrand
Hilpert
Karl
Lampert
Leuthold
Neidhart
Sebald
Seitz
Tilmann
Wolf(gang)
No new names
recorded
 
Alexander
Ambrosius
Anton
August
Balthasar
Blasius
Clemens
Dominik
Erasmus
Eustachius
Fabian
Gallus
Joachim
Kilian
Korbinian
Lukas
Melchior
Moritz
Pankratz
Quirinus
Sixtus
Tiburtius
Tobias
Urban
Valentin
Abraham
Basilius
Daniel
David
Elias
Eucharius
Gabriel
Jeremias
Joseph
Josua
Julius
Justus
Salomon
Samuel
Severin
Zacharias