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

[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.