Comments on: The Strange German Disease Called “Kevinism”: Can a Lame Name Mess Up Your Life?

By: Frankgarrett127

Frankgarrett127 — Wed, 23 May 2012 09:27:00 +0000

You can fuck yourself

By: Cdv

Cdv — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 01:45:00 +0000

Interesting. Sonething similar here in Japan . Our first names usually using Kanji (Chinese characters) have had meanings. Nowadays, especially among relatively uneducated social groups, there are many (majority?) children with names that have no literate meaning but only “sounds” . Sounds that are either girlish or boyish, usually originating from a manga story cast .

By: Erik Stensland

Erik Stensland — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:28:00 +0000

I am currently living in Bavaria, and the use of surnames is not as common, equally so with the formal use of Sie in German when referring to a formal acquaintance. Although, I must admit, I am not aware of a single person that has the name Kevin, or in fact any of the other mentioned names. It all comes down to where you live in Germany, it is only a fraction bigger than the US state of Oregon, but it has about 80,000,000 people residing in it, thus the cultural divides are strong, even when you are only talking about crossing from one side of Ulm to the other. (Ulm is split down the middle by a river, Bavaria on one side, Baden Wurttemberg on the other.)

By: Michelle M

Michelle M — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:58:00 +0000

That is supposed to be a capital T at the beginning of the last sentence. Apparently you can’t edit comments if you see a mistake.

By: Michelle M

Michelle M — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:56:00 +0000

I really wish parents would pay more attention to what kinds of problems their children will have if they are named strangely or if they have a name that is misspelled, either intentionally or accidentally. As a teacher I have run across a litany of names that the parents had burdened their child with, thinking these were great names. the child was mocked and learned to hate his or her name, and often would insist on a nickname.

By: Giwimu

Giwimu — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:31:00 +0000

A quick note from Germany: I remember that a few years ago I read studies that people with lower income tend to give their children names from moviefigures, pop stars, etc.. Names like Kevin are coming from there.

By: River Williamson

River Williamson — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:41:00 +0000

Seriously. It’s all surnames all the time. Given names are far too personal. This was a lesson that my German instructor drilled into our heads so that we would not seem impolite should we visit Germany.

By: Sven Rudloff

Sven Rudloff — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:30:00 +0000

sws is right – English names were far more common in former East Germany than West Germany, with this trend also continuing well into after the reunification. Kevin especially surged as a first name due to the popularity of the movie “Home Alone” (1990), literally called “Kevin home alone” in the German translation.

So there certainly is the Freakonomics issue of a name being a likely sign of a potential difference (here potentially West Germans looking down on stereotypical “backwater” East Germans, signified by their English first names), but not the cause of it. However, while Sabine is right that you are much less likely on first-name basis in most traditional German companies, people and employers still well know your first name and may judge your application / you accordingly nevertheless.

By: sws

sws — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:22:00 +0000

It is a bit more complicated than that, because the English names are more common in former East Germany. So you also have to control for the dislike of “Ossis” and “Wessis”, who both still look down on each other.

By: Amos Zeeberg

Amos Zeeberg — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:24:00 +0000

Thanks for the ethnological (albeit anecdotal) info. Didn’t realize first names were treated differently over there.

By: Sabine Hossenfelder

Sabine Hossenfelder — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:31:00 +0000

So I’m German and (presently) live in Germany and I don’t know anybody who is named Kevin, Mandy, Justin or Angelina. I know a lot of Jürgens though ;o) I would guess we count as middle class and so do pretty much all people I know. I am very skeptic about the hypothesis that the first name messes up your life in Germany. Using first names is in Germany, still, reserved for people who know each other well (friends, family members). While it would appear on your CV of course, it might very well be that the people on your workplace exclusively address you by “Herr/Frau X” once you’re older than, say, 18 or so.