When a baby is on the way, life changes. This truism is joined by another: the name reflects the character, they say, which is why the choice presents parents-to-be with a tricky task. It should not be too common, not too fashionable, but also not old-fashioned, but a name with a positive connotation and a good sound. While celebrities often tend to be eccentric and simply name their children "Wednesday" after their birthday ("Harry Potter" star Rupert Grint), after seasons like Christina Aguilera's daughter "Summer Rain", places like "San Diego" (Verena Pooth's son), or very unusual names like Elon Musk's offspring "X Æ A-12", German parents are generally more down-to-earth: Emilia and Noah topped the rankings nationwide in the year recently ended. In Offenbach, Noah is only the third most popular name, while Emilia no longer made it into the top ten in the local statistics for female first names. A total of 1,930 children were born in Offenbach in 2024, of which 1,019 were boys and 921 girls.
The top names for Offenbach parents were Mila, of Slavic origin, kind and loving, and "Princess" or "Princess Sara", a name of Hebrew origin, for girls, and the Arabic name for Moses, Musa, for boys. Mila and Sara were each chosen ten times, 13 boys are now named Musa.
In Persian, by the way, Sara's lordly attribution has become Amira, and nine girls born in 2024 now bear this name. Lina, Mia and Mira were also given nine times. While Lina comes from the Arabic-speaking world and means "soft" or "tender", the name Mia has several origins, but is most likely to be of Hebrew or Aramaic origin, where it stands for "the gift of God" and "the beloved". Finally, Mira is a short form of various female names and has Latin, Slavic, Kurdish and Arabic roots. The first name Mira has long been one of the most popular names in Germany.
The name can be traced either to the north or to the Near and Middle East and is the second most popular name for boys: Malik, for example, means "sea" or "wave" in Greenlandic, while in Arabic it stands for "king". This name was chosen twelve times. The first name Noah was chosen just as often; it is reminiscent of the mythological figure of the tenth forefather after Adam. Third place is shared by Elijah, Liam and Rayan, with ten parents each choosing these names for their offspring. The male first name Elijah means "my God is Yahweh" and is of Hebrew origin. "The resolute protector" and "the strong-willed" is found in the name Liam, a short form of the English name William, while Rayan refers to the seventh gate of heaven in the Koran. Incidentally, in Persian the name also means "the thinker" and "the clever one".
The girls' names Alina (8), Lea (7), Elena and Ella (6 each) follow in seventh to tenth place. The boys' names are Adam and David (9 each), Leon and Milan (8 each).
Children often also have a middle name, originally in memory of deceased relatives; in religious regions, parents sometimes also give children the names of the saints of the day of their birth. A total of 530 of the 2024 children born have another first name, 45 even have a third and the parents of four newborns have given them more than four first names.
Whatever they are called, the City of Offenbach wishes all children born in Offenbach in 2024 a healthy and fulfilling life and all the best!