5+5 German Names You Are Mispronouncing All The Time (With Examples)

Hallo Leute! (Hi guys!) Ich bin Denisa von Spring German.

In this video, I will teach you 10 German names that you are probably mispronouncing. Aber keine Sorge (but don’t worry), that’s why I am here. Let’s start with my co-teacher from Spring German: Brunhild.

Los geht’s! (Let’s go!)

1. Brunhild

DENISA
Wie sprechen die Leute deinen Namen oft aus?
(How do people often pronounce your name?)

BRUNHILD
Brünhild, Brunhild, Bunhild, …

DENISA
Oh Mann. Und wie wird dein Name richtig ausgesprochen?
(Oh man. And how is your name pronounced correctly?)

BRUNHILD
Brunhild.
(Brunhild.)

Chunk alert!

If you are not sure how to pronounce a German name, just ask “Wie wird dein Name richtig ausgesprochen?” (How is your name pronounced correctly?).

Don’t forget that it is no problem to not be sure about things. The important thing is to not be afraid to ask, so you can learn new things. Wie wird dein Name richtig ausgesprochen? (How is your name pronounced correctly?)

Let me know in the comments what your experiences are.

If you want to learn more chunks, so word combinations or phrases, in German, check our free essential German chunking kit. You can learn a lot of helpful chunks there, and I repeat, it’s free. The link is in the description.

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Now you know how to pronounce Brunhild’s name. Let’s continue with the next one, which is this:

2. Jürgen

Can you try to pronounce it correctly? The correct pronunciation is Jürgen. The “Ü” is here the problem for most of the people. My tip for you would be to say “ee” as in “to see”. While saying the sound, round your lips. The resulting sound is the ü-sound.

DENISA
Schau mal, Jürgen macht Sport.
(Look, Jürgen does sports.)

VANESSA
Wow. Es ist erst 8 Uhr. Jürgen ist ganz schön fleißig.
(Wow. It’s only 8 a.m. Jürgen is really hard-working.)

DENISA
Der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm.
(The early bird catches the worm.)

A popular German proverb you can remember is: Der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm. (The early bird catches the worm.) Here you can also find the ü-sound in “frühe” (early).

Other words with the ü-sound are:

3. Helene

Try to pronounce this name correctly. Here’s a dialogue for you:

DENISA
Hallo He… Wie wird dein Name richtig ausgesprochen?
(Hello He… How’s your name pronounced correctly?)

HELENE
Helene. Du bist Denisa, oder?
(Helene. You are Denisa, aren’t you?)

DENISA
Ja, genau. Danke. Hallo Helene.
(Yes exactly. Thanks. Hello Helene.)

The correct pronunciation is Helene.

• “heh”: The “h” is pronounced with a slight breath sound, similar to the English “h” in “hello.”
• “LEH”: The “e” is pronounced as a short “e” sound, similar to the “e” in “pet.”
• Also make sure to pronounce the last “e” in the name. In English, it’s often silent.
• Stress the second syllable when pronouncing the name Helene, Helene.

4. Matthias

This name is probably really hard to pronounce for you. The English version of this name is Matthew.

DENISA
Ich habe einen neuen Kollegen.
(I have a new colleague.)

VANESSA
Echt? Ist er nett?
(Really? Is he nice?)

DENISA
Ja, total. Er heißt Matthias.
(Yes, extremely. His name is Matthias.)

VANESSA
Wie schreibt man das?
(How is it spelled?)

There are different spellings for this name:

• Mathias
• Matthias
• Mattias

Also, most of them get the nickname “Matze” in German. But no matter how it’s spelled, here are some tips how to pronounce Matthias.

• “TEE”: The “T” is pronounced as it is in English, and the “EE” is pronounced as a long “ee” sound, similar to the “ee” in “see.”
• “us”: The “u” is pronounced as a short “u” sound, similar to the “u” in “bus”.

5. Stefan

VANESSA
Wer ist das?
(Who is that?)

DENISA
Das ist Stefan.
(That’s Stefan.)

VANESSA
Woher kennst du Stefan?
(How do you know Stefan?)

DENISA
Er war mit mir in der Schule.
(He went to school with me.)

Did you hear the right pronunciation of this typical German name? Yes, correct, it’s Stefan. Here you have to be careful with the “SCH”-sound. Normally “SCH” is written like this and you can find it in words like:

But you must pronounce an as “S” like “SCH” too when it’s followed by a “P” or “T”. Some examples:

There are also different spellings and variations of this name:

• Stephan
• Steffen
• or the female version: Stefanie

6. Can you guess the pronunciation?

I will quickly show you 5 other typical German names. Try to guess the pronunciation and stop the video for some extra time. Let me know how you did in the comments below.

• Sandra
• Lukas
• Hannah
• Jonas
• Gisela

So? I’m very curious how you did. Now to another topic:

DENISA
Das sind ja coole Schuhe!
(These are really cool shoes!)

VANESSA
Danke, die sind neu. Die sind von Adidas.
(Thanks, they’re new. They are from Adidas.)

DENISA
Ah. So spricht man das aus.
(Ah. This is how you say it.)