YESTERYEAR



How popular was the Christian name Adolf in German-speaking countries before 1945? What about since? THERE are no national statistics but statistics relating to individual boroughs. For example, in Mannheim, 1.6 per cent of boys were named Adolf before 1880 (as compared to the most popular name, Karl, with 10.3 per cent). In 1880 and shortly after, Adolf rose to 2.2 per cent, falling again to 1.0 per cent in 1923. Statistics for nine boroughs in eastern Germany show Adolf occurring seven times in 1924 (with the most popular name, Heinz, appearing 247 times). In 1934 - one year after Hitler's rise to power - it occurred 37 times (while Gunther was most popular, at 145 times). In 1944 no one was named Adolf, and the same is true for 1954, 1964 and 1969. One researcher, Rosa Katz, inquired in 1938 at the registry office of Baden-Baden. She found six boys named Adolf and one Adolf-Benito out of a total of 641. She did the same at Rostock in 1938 and found five out of a total of 2,728. Thus, in line with other Germanic names, Adolf was losing ground before Hitler's rise to power. During the Hitler era it experienced a modest, short-lived boom and then disappeared. (Dr) Arne Holtorf, Deutsches Seminar der Universitdt T|bingen, Germany. WHEN you name a baby in Germany you are required by law to choose a name appropriate to the child's sex. About 200 suitable names are helpfully suggested on the reverse side of the birth registration form. Adolf is not included in this otherwise quite comprehensive list. The name is not only less popular than it used to be, it has even ceased to exist officially. Incidentally, in the current Munich telephone directory there is no one between Hitl, J. and Hitsch, C. J. A., Munich, Germany. I KNOW one Adolf, who is in his early thirties. This is quite unusual, but may be explained by the fact that he is a Russian-German, who still often tend to have old Germanic names such as Otto and Waldemar. As to what the other contributors have said, the CD-rom of the German phone book lists two Hitlers, a few Goebbels and a few Goerings. Hess is a very common name. As to the list of officially approved names, of which Adolf is not one, it is possible to et more unusual names through. I know of sets of twins named "Stella" and "Maris", and also "Mona" and "Lisa". The attempt to get "Coca" and "Cola" through failed, however. J. Ovey, Osnabr|ck, Germany (user@fsub1.ub.uni-osnabrueck.de)



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