upper-class German family names

[kindkit]

Once again I turn to the German-speaking folks in my circle for help. I need a family name for a character who doesn't have one canonically. He's a career German army officer, probably born about 1890, who is a colonel (Oberst) when we meet him in 1940. My guess is that his family background is upper class but probably not aristocratic. Any suggestions for good names?

I've googled for German surnames but I'm not pulling up enough information to judge social connotations, though I'm assuming that names with occupational associations are ones to avoid.

Comments

[vilakins]

You could still use "von" plus a place name (preferably a village) that appeals to you; not all vons are titled.

Otherwise: Gottlieb (love of God), Adler (eagle), Bohm (Bohemian - geog.), Jaeger (hunter), Loewe (lion), Fuerst (Prince), Ritter (knight)?

I should add that I've used the umlaut-less versions there.

[kindkit]

Thanks!

[selenak]

Upper class but not aristocratic family names from the relevant period which aren't so rare that they could only mean one particular family:

North German:
- Mann (yes, like Thoma M.; Lübeck senators and their kids qualify)
- Poggenpohl
- Briest

South German:

- Schirnding
- Ude
- Feldner

Do not use a von. That is such a cliché from English speaking writers, and always annoys me when I come across it. We really don't have that many of them.

....to be fair: Robert Graves still gets published as Robert von Ranke-Graves in German, but that was a) his actual full name (see relavant passage in memoirs about teasing and bullying in school for it) and b) his choice when alive.

[kindkit]

Thanks! There's nothing in canon about where he's from, so I guess I can just pick. A South German name would make him more likely to be Catholic, right? And I think he's probably not. I might call him Briest; his canonical first name is Karl and I like the sound of the two names together.

[shadowvalkyrie]

A South German name would make him more likely to be Catholic, right?

Yep. Many Southern names also have more rural connotations than a Middle or Northern German one would. :)

[selenak]

Yes, South Germans are more likely Catholic, North Germans Protestant. Karl Briest sounds like a fine name to me!

[shehasathree]

I vote for Klink! ;p
(We have Klink relatives and my partner still cannot not-giggle every time he hears them referred to.)

[kindkit]

*grins* Tempting thought it is to call him Oberst Karl Klink, I think I had better not . . .

[shadowvalkyrie]

Like someone already said: you'd need to give a regional background. North, or South, at the very least. Bavarians, for instance, have very different names from people up here. Back then he also could also have easily been from East Prussia, which also has very particular names.

And not all occupational surnames have lower-class connotations -- not that late in the 19th century, anyway.

[kindkit]

Unfortunately there's no indication in canon of where he's from. It's not so much a matter of trying to match lots of canon details (there aren't any besides what I mentioned in the post) as not wanting to pick a name that would sound wrong to anyone who, unlike me, is familiar with Germany and German names.

[shadowvalkyrie]

I think your safest bet would be going with just any common German name.

Unless they're either specifically tied to a certain aristocratic dynasty, or show immigrant roots, most names have only a regional connotation, not a class one. Historically, of course, they did, but by the 19th century, a Bäcker or Müller (Baker or Miller) could easily be upper middle class, while a traditional city patrician name (e.g. Burmester, Low German for Mayor) could refer to a worker. There's nothing that screams Upper Class to me by name alone.

Random naming examples that sound fairly neutral to me -- regionally, as well as by class connotations: Schwarz, Falk, Schürmann/Schuermann, Theiss, Brecht, Buchholz, Rösner/Roesner, Steiner, Meinberg, Althaus, Fuchs... Or you might try going through a wikipedia list of German authors or politicians for ideas.

The name Briest mentioned above is definitely a possibility, but it's rather a rare name, and thus my immediate association is with Fontane's Effi Briest, and probably would be to most people. Also, there's a little aristocracy in it, iirc.