The most common exceptions are alphabetized list of surnames, e.g. "Bach, Johann Sebastian", as well as some official documents and spoken southern German dialects.
Recent legislation motivated by gender equality now allows a married couple to choose the surname they want to use, including an option for men to keep their birthname hyphenated to the common family name in the same way.
[3][4][5] Among German nobility, a fashion arose in the early modern period[citation needed] to give a large number of forenames, often six or more.
This fashion was to some extent copied by the bourgeois class, but subsided again after the end of the 19th century, so that while two or three forenames remain common, a larger number is now rare.
The practice persists among German nobility, e.g. Johann Friedrich Konrad Carl Eduard Horst Arnold Matthias, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen, Duke of Saxony (b.
1952), Ernst August Albert Paul Otto Rupprecht Oskar Berthold Friedrich-Ferdinand Christian-Ludwig, Prince of Hanover (b.
1954), Christian Heinrich Clemens Paul Frank Peter Welf Wilhelm-Ernst Friedrich Franz Prince of Hanover and Dukelin, Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg (b.
These differences are still perceptible in the list of most popular names, even though they are marginalized by super-regional fashionable trends: As of 2012, the top ten given names of Baden-Württemberg (Southern Germany) and of Schleswig-Holstein (Northern Germany) share the entries Ben, Paul, Finn, Luca, Max (male), Mia, Emma, Lea, Leonie, Anna, Lena, Hanna, while Schleswig-Holstein retains the traditionally northern (Low German) forms Lasse (male) and Neele (female) in the top ten.
[clarification needed][7] Anna, Martha / Marta, Frieda / Frida, Berta / Beertha, Emma, Marie, Maria, Margarethe / Margarete, Erna, Elsa Carl / Karl, Wilhelm, Otto, Heinrich, Friedrich, Paul, Hans, Gustav, Max, Ernst Anna, Martha / Marta, Frieda / Frida, Emma, Marie, Elisabeth, Maria, Berta / Bertha, Gertrud, Margarethe / Margarete Wilhelm, Carl / Karl, Heinrich, Hermann, Friedrich, Paul, Otto, Ernst, Hans, Walter / Walther Gertrud, Erna, Martha / Marta, Hertha / Herta, Margarethe / Margarete, Anna, Käthe, Elisabeth, Frieda / Frida, Hildegard, Walter / Walther, Carl / Karl, Hans, Wilhelm, Otto, Curt / Kurt, Heinrich, Hermann, Paul, Helmut / Helmuth Ilse, Hildegard, Gertrud, Irmgard, Gerda, Lieselotte, Elfriede, Ursula, Edith, Erna Hans, Carl / Karl, Heinz, Curt / Kurt, Werner, Walter / Walther, Günter / Günther, Herbert, Helmut / Helmuth, Gerhard, Rolf Ursula, Helga, Gisela, Inge, Gerda, Ingrid, Ingeborg, Ilse, Edith, Hildegard Günter / Günther, Hans, Carl / Karl, Heinz, Werner, Gerhard, Horst, Helmut / Helmuth, Walter / Walther, Curt / Kurt, Rolf Karin, Ingrid, Helga, Renate, Elke, Ursula, Erika, Christa, Gisela, Monika Peter, Klaus / Claus, Hans, Jürgen, Dieter, Günter / Günther, Horst, Manfred, Uwe, Wolfgang Brigitte, Renate, Karin, Angelika, Monika, Ursula, Ingrid, Marion, Barbara, Gisela, Regina Peter, Hans, Wolfgang, Klaus / Claus, Manfred, Jürgen, Michael, Bernd, Werner, Günter / Günther Sabine, Susanne, Petra, Birgit, Gabriele, Andrea, Martina, Ute, Heike, Angelika Thomas, Michael, Andreas, Peter, Frank, Uwe, Klaus / Claus, Stefan / Stephan, Jürgen, Jörg Nicole, Anja, Claudia, Stefanie / Stephanie, Andrea, Tanja, Katrin / Catrin / Kathrin, Susanne, Petra, Sabine Stefan / Stephan, Michael, Andreas, Thomas, Frank, Markus / Marcus, Christian, Oliver, Matthias, Torsten Julia, Katrin / Catrin / Kathrin, Stefanie / Stephanie, Melanie, Sandra, Anja, Nicole, Nadine, Christina, Sabrina Christian, Michael, Sebastian, Stefan / Stephan, Jan, Daniel, Martin, Dennis, Alexander, Thomas Julia, Sarah / Sara, Jennifer, Katharina, Lisa, Christina, Jessika / Jessica, Anna, Laura, Melanie Jan, Tobias, Christian, Alexander, Daniel, Patrick, Dennis, Sebastian, Marcel, Philipp Anna, Lea / Leah, Sarah / Sara, Hannah / Hanna, Michelle, Laura, Lisa, Lara, Lena, Julia Lukas / Lucas, Jan, Tim, Finn / Fynn, Leon, Niklas / Niclas, Tom, Jonas, Jannik / Yannik / Yannick / Yannic, Luca / Luka Mia, Hannah / Hanna, Lena, Lea / Leah, Emma, Anna, Leonie / Leoni, Lilli / Lilly / Lili, Emily / Emilie, Lina Leon, Lukas / Lucas, Ben, Finn / Fynn, Jonas, Paul, Luis / Louis, Maximilian, Luca / Luka, Felix Mia, Emilia, Hannah / Hanna, Emma, Sofia / Sophia, Lina, Ella, Mila, Clara, Lea / Leah Noah / Noa, Ben, Mateo / Matteo / Matheo / Mattheo, Finn / Fynn, Leon, Elias / Elyas, Paul, Henry / Henri, Luis / Louis, Felix
Surnames (family name; Nachname, Familienname) were gradually introduced in German-speaking Europe during the Late Middle Ages.
The surnames of the German Jews are a special case, as they were introduced later, in the late 18th to early 19th century, per fiat.
[citation needed] This is by no means the rule, though; on the contrary, those surnames most quickly recognized as probably Jewish in origin are distinctly poetical ones, probably as they were made-up choices by the people themselves (e.g. Rosenzweig).
Immigration, often sponsored by local authorities, also brought foreign family names into the German-speaking regions.
Depending on regional history, geography and economics, many family names have French, Dutch, Italian, Hungarian or Slavic (e.g. Polish) origins.
Thus, in old records, especially church registers on rites de passage, such as baptisms, deaths and marriages etc., women may appear bearing regionally typical female surname variants (like, in South Germany: Peter Huber, but Anna Huberin).
With the establishment of general official registration of legal names, this practice was abolished in the 18th and the 19th centuries, depending on the legislation of the respective states.
In West Low German parlance the ending "…sch(e)" is sometimes added to surnames of women, related to the standard High German adjective ending "…isch" (cognitive to English "…ish"), suffixed to nouns or adjectives indicating belonging / pertaining to, being of the kind described by the suffixed word: for example, de Smidtsche, is Ms Schmidt (Smith), but literally something like the Smithian (the woman pertaining to a man/family named Schmidt).
Because of the long-standing tradition of impartible inheritance in German-speaking Europe, ownership of a Hof had often been tied to direct patrilineal descent over centuries.
Thus, farmers were traditionally known by their Hofname even before the development of the Nachname in the early modern period, and the two systems came to overlap.
Many Nachnamen are in fact derived from such Hofnamen, but in some instances, the Hofname tradition survived alongside the official Nachname.
In cases where Nachname and Hofname are not identical (usually because there was no male heir at some point in the family history) they are joined in official documents by genannt (abbr.
Except for Southern Germany, usage of the definite article with the name outside of dialect is uncommon, and considered a mistake in Standard German.
This is because[verification needed] the German word for "girl", Mädchen, is a neuter noun, due to the diminutive suffix -chen.