What Should Our Child Be Called?

h/t Vidar

SS Notebook No. 7. , 1944

What should our child be called?

Already weeks before the birth of a son or daughter, parents are preoccupied with what names they should give them. Until now, the task of choosing a name was taken so lightly that the mother-to-be looked at a Christian calendar and chose a few boys’ and girls’ names that she liked. She made sure that these names were in use in the area and in the family, and the following were listed on the ballot: Fritz, Hans, Klaus, Karl-Heinz, Peter for a boy and Ursel, Gisela, Annemarie, Bärbel or Gerda for a girl. She would then consult with the father. He would look at the calendar again and add his choice, and then they would agree on two or three names depending on the characteristics, hair colour of the expected children or the family “look”. The remaining names were not discarded but only kept in reserve.

The parents did indeed think about it and yet they thought little. They did not know that all first names have a historical origin and a particular meaning.

In the mother’s file we are talking about, there are some commonly used names, but they all have different meanings. Fritz is a shortened form of Frederick, an old German name, and is formed from two Germanic syllables frid’ and ‘richi. Frid is related to “froh” (joyful) and “frei” (free). “Fro” is the old designation for the free man, the lord; “Frowe meant the free woman, the ruler. “Frederick” is a man who is rich in peace-giving power. The fact that our ancestors created such magnificent names in pre-Christian times proves that they had a great natural ethic.

When our parents consciously decided to give a son the name Frederick, they were giving him a name: a name charged with meaning, a name that would distinguish a particular spirit, a particular quality that would follow the child. Ernst Wasserzieher wrote in his little book Hans and Grete: “Since the time of the Hohenstaufen, the name Frederick has been extraordinarily popular because of the memory of the legendary figures of Frederick Barbarossa and Frederick II, and it has been revived since Frederick the Great, Old Fritz.

But when the German name Fritz is given today, we do not think about its origin and meaning, as we do with the name Hans and others. It is clear that “Hans” is only a shortened and “Germanised” form of the Hebrew “John”. John means “Jehovah is merciful. All the biblical names beginning with “I” and “Jo”, such as Jeremiah, Joachim, Job, Jonah, Joseph, contain the two names of the Jewish god Jehovah and Jehovah abbreviated in these syllables. Where does Klaus come from? Klaus is the shortened form of Nicholas, whose origin is not Germanic but Greek. Karl-Heinz? Both Karl (Charles) and Heinz (Henry) are very old German names. Charles characterises a “Kerl’ (able individual), the free man of non-chivalrous class, he free peasant on his hereditary estate. Henri comes from Hagenrich (the rich enclosure), the lord of an estate surrounded by hedges.

Peter is a widely used Christian name that is even more frequently found in choruses. Peter comes from Petrus, the rock, a Roman name, which is added to that of the apostle Simon as the first pope.

The Hebrew name Michael seems to be particularly common. Many citizens believe that they are naming their son after the invincibly strong archangel, thus giving him a particularly modern name. But giving children foreign names can only be harmful today, as they grow up in an age of trying to find their origins and will later ask their parents with difficulty: In 1944, eleven years after the National Socialist Revolution, how could you still give us Jewish names?

Let’s explain what the five names chosen by the mother mean: Ursula is Latin and means “the little bear”. This name has become fashionable because of its harmonious sound. Bärbel, a sweet form of Barbara, is of Greek origin and means “the foreigner” (the barbarian). Annemarie is Jewish in both its components. There are so many beautiful Germanic names that we do not need to show our ignorance by giving the girls of our people such names and hundreds of fashionable nicknames as Mieke, Mia, Maja, Ria, Mimi, Miezl, Anke, Anne, Antpe, Annchen, etc. The same applies to the names of the girls of our country. The same applies to common oriental names such as Margarete and its abbreviated forms Marga and Grete.

So out of ten names, our mother chose six foreign names, mostly jewish and only four Germanic.

Having criticised this irresponsible choice, as there have been (and always will be), we must now present the following characteristics for choosing names that correspond to our race and species:

• First names or customary forms define a particular racial and national type; they express a hope and a desire related to the destiny of future generations. They express knowledge of the value of character, awareness of the identity of the clan, the people and God.
• It is our duty to give our children characteristic names and to put an end to the tradition that still persists here and there of choosing foreign names.
• Each name has its own specific ethnic origin and meaning. We mainly differentiate between North Germanic (Harald, Sigurd, Astrid, Thora), German (Albert, Heinrich, Gertrud, Irmgard), Roman (Anton-us; Martin-us, Pet [e] r-us, Agnes, Klara), Greek (Georg, Eugen, Lydia, Monika) and Jewish (akob, Joachim, Johann, Joseph, Mathias, Michael, Thomas, Anna, Elisabeth, Eva, Edith, Gabriele, Magdalena, Martha, Maria, Suzanne).
• The first name must match all the names of the parents’ homeland. In Friesland other names are preferred than in Bavaria. The name should express the ethnicity. It is therefore important to find out what the name means before giving it to your child. (A special issue of “Characteristic Names” has been published by the SS-Hauptamt. Circles and teachers from various regions provide information).
• The first name must be in harmony with the family name to form an organic whole with it. But this is not always possible, as many surnames have little meaning. Consonance also plays a role.
• The custom of giving children the first names of their ancestors (grandparents and great-grandparents) is healthy. The first name is an ancestral duty for the child, the heir of the ancestor. When the father and son have the same first name, confusion is easily possible. But the son will proudly bear the name of the deceased father. Choosing names from collateral lines expresses the desire for a classic family relationship, whereas family or clan names express the closest blood relationship, which is expressed in the form of a homogeneous community. The first name makes it possible to influence the future, and thus to determine how the biological heritage will develop. This is the major difficulty in choosing a first name. This implies knowledge of the hereditary characteristics of the clan, which can also enable us to create new names if we do not want the delivery of names to be no longer adapted to the evolution of life.
• Instead of the abbreviated forms that have become customary, full first names should be used in future, apart from the nicknames used in family circles.
• Double names (Karl Heinz, Ernst Dieter) only make sense if they refer to the degree of relationship with the godfather. Children should be made aware of these issues on their future birthdays. If there are compound names with Bauer, Müller, Schmidt, etc., the use of several first names is desirable. However, the transcription of several first names in a single form (Karlheinz or similar) should be avoided.

Now that we are living in an era where people are becoming aware of their racial origins, the choice of a first name is no longer an arbitrary matter. Through the giving of the first name, our world view expresses that the individual represents a link in the chain of generations of his clan and a branch of the tree of life constituted by his people. The first name forms both a vow in this sense and a biological link. The handing over of the first name is a step in the gradual awakening of the people, and when all Germans again bear German names, it can be concluded that the choice of marriage and the protection of the family have regained their priority and their right to consideration.

Let the name be the expression of the species!

-excerpted from “The SS Order – Ethics & Ideology” by Edwige Thibaut