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

[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!