Names, whether they are German, Indian or French carry the essence of love, the anticipation and the hopes of the parents. Dating back to the Saussurean correlation theory of the signifier and the signified, the German names and their meanings conjure up the desired image of a person with qualities that deem to characterize him.
The German names consist of one or more than one 'Vornamen' or given names and a 'nachname' or a family name. The Vornamen is supposed to be gender specific. The former are actually the call names of a child i.e the name with which the child is identified with. These German names might also involve the names of saints who tend to act as protectors to the child. These names are given specially by catholic parents and are considered to be the additional German name. Names are also given in order to honor an ancestor, suffixing a nomenclature, designating the order in the family tree.
Being a country of orthodox roots, the names in Germany are selected very carefully. The rules that are to be followed while baptizing a new born are as follows:
- The names cannot be invented and have to match the conventional naming style.
- The names must be in compliance to the gender of the child.
- They should not be offensive, which might create a problem for the bearer of the name.
- Schneider characterizing the occupation of a Tailor
- Müller characterizing the occupation of a Miller
- Schmidt, Schmitt, Schmitz characterizing the occupation of a Smith
- Wagner characterizing the occupation of a Cartwright
- Fischer characterizing the occupation of a Fisher
- Schulz, Schulze, Schultze, Schulte characterizing the occupation of a Mayor
- Weber characterizing the occupation of a Weaver
- Meyer, Meier, Mayer, Maier characterizing the occupation of a Mayor
- Becker characterizing the occupation of a Baker
- Hoffmann characterizing the occupation of a Farmer
