Baby names
Go with the flow like sperm to the egg? Rather not!
© pololia / Adobe Stock
What should our child be called? Not an easy question. As the bearer of a fashionable name, our author is happy to support you with a few ideas.
Such a child may be conceived quickly, but giving it a name afterwards can be a difficult birth. Ultimately, two people have to agree on a pretty important thing: the name sticks with the child for life, should at least be liked by those around them and influences the way it is received in the world – Chantal and Gabriel-Honoré can lament sing about it. And then he should stand out from the crowd, but by no means be a laughing stock.
But which first names are actually popular and which are not?
This question is apparently not that easy to answer, despite generous help in the form of name generators and lists. Because it happens to many parents that they are on the way to the Holy Grail of perfection Go with the flow with the first name like sperm to the egg – and find out at the latest in the Pekip course that Emil or Emilia already has three to five namesake siblings.
No parent is immune from this, including mine: I was born in 1967 and my name is Susanne. This isn’t problematic because I was cheered on at the 1982 National Youth Games with “Susa…ne – Banana…ne!” or because in the course of my life I’ve been everything from Susi Carefree to Suzi Quatro – but because it’s like that everywhere I go There are so many Susans that there are quasi-Babylonian name confusions. There are three in my editorial team alone: One is called Susi, the other Schuse, I was allowed to remain Susanne (the right of the elders). So far, so well.
But recently I took part in a workshop and let the other two Susans go first: I decided to amputate my name and was Susa for a week, while the second one frowned and switched to Susi and the third in the group was allowed to remain Susanne. Nevertheless, I was taken aback every time one of the Susanne variations was heard. Who was I again… Susanne? Suzy? Susa? In theory, numbering would have been an option, but also a very unpleasant one.
I’m sure all Anjas and Andreasse know exactly what I’m talking about when I call out to all expectant parents: Please give your children original names! It doesn’t have to be anything extravagant like toast avocado or Tesla Wikipedia, even if our world is becoming more and more vegan and digital, but thinking outside the box and national borders a bit can’t hurt if you want to spare the offspring the fate of our name.
This is how you put yourself at the forefront of the first name retro avant-garde
But how do you get the perfect first name without consulting the apparently useless hit lists? I think the end credits in the cinema are a good source of inspiration. While you test the durability of your dental crowns with the last rock-hard corn kernels from the popcorn bag and wait for the person sitting next to you to find your umbrella and scarf in the dark, you can let the most beautiful names pass you by: I recently had Espen and Florant discovered in a film, and location scout Ellen was pretty lucky with her first name, I think. Or you can venture back to the Manfreds and Ursulas, Peters and Martins of Generation X and thus move to the forefront of the first-name retro avant-garde. Or how about Susanne, for example?