# How Unusual Is It That Most Top Nazis Had Seemingly-Uncommon Names? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 20, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265 "2011-10-20T16:12:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/1 "2011-10-20T16:12:07Z")
There’s a thread or column or both somewhere about Hitler as a surname. Obviously anyone left with that name would be tempted to change it, but IIRC there were very few Hitlers among the substantial German-American populace even at the time of the war. Likewise (and again, allowing for the possibilities of name changes) I’ve never come across IRL a German or German-American named Goering or Goebbels or Himmler. Baumanns, yes, a good number of Hesses. I’m not sure about any Rommels (and this all includes reading a fair amount of German literature and history). I post this here because there’s no real GQ answer that I can think of (unless someone has a useful link to German census records or something). Just struck by the fact that I’ve met a number of Roosevelts, or Pattons, or McArthurs (though only one Eisenhauer, as that guy spelled it). How did the Nazis end up with such outlier surnames (or, if some German wants to come along and tell me Germany is to this day bristling with Himmlers and Goerings, I could be persuaded of that too)? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/2 "2011-10-20T17:06:03Z")
Just a quick search of the online white pages reveals plenty of Goerings, Himmlers and Hitlers. It doesn’t appear to me that those names are unusual at all among German-Americans. Goebbels on the other hand is a bit more rare, but there are still some around, e.g. composer [Heiner Goebbels](http://www.heinergoebbels.com/en/about). ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/3 "2011-10-20T17:49:56Z")
I went to school with a guy named Rommel, he wasn’t related, though. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/4 "2011-10-20T21:19:30Z")
Roosevelts, Nixons & Obamas aren’t too common here, either. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/5 "2011-10-20T21:34:33Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Roosevelts, Nixons & Obamas aren’t too common here, either. I couldn’t think of a tactful way to bring it up, but it always seemed to me there was not a lot of overlap between the most common names in the U.S. and the names of presidents. There have been two president Johnsons (second-most common name) and a Wilson (8), a Taylor (10) and a Jackson (13), but it start to get thinner after that. There were a few Adamses (36) and a Carter (40). Those and Washington (90) are the only ones in the top 100. But that’s based on the census in 1990 and I’m wondering it just looks like common names are underrepresented because of changes in demographics over the years. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/6 "2011-10-20T22:34:54Z")
Yes, of the 10 most common German surnames ( [List of most common surnames in Europe - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_common_surnames_in_Europe#Germany) ) none comes to mind as that of a top-rung Nazi party or government official. There are a few Himmlers and Görings that I have heard of so the names are not _that_ rare in Germany. But still rare enough to make one pause when reading a mention of one in a newspaper. There is one well-known Rommel (Manfred Rommel, actually Erwin Rommel’s son, a former long time mayor of Stuttgart and still popular as an aphorist). ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/7 "2011-10-20T22:51:38Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I couldn’t think of a tactful way to bring it up, but it always seemed to me there was not a lot of overlap between the most common names in the U.S. and the names of presidents. There have been two president Johnsons (second-most common name) and a Wilson (8), a Taylor (10) and a Jackson (13), but it start to get thinner after that. There were a few Adamses (36) and a Carter (40). Those and Washington (90) are the only ones in the top 100. But that’s based on the census in 1990 and I’m wondering it just looks like common names are underrepresented because of changes in demographics over the years. WAG that this is skewed **somewhat** (I’ll never be able to remotely quantify how much) by the fact that those common names are disproportionately either old English surnames or recent immigrant (mostly Hispanic, at this point) in origins. The Gonzalezes and Hernandezes haven’t gotten elected pro rata just because assimilation is still ongoing and they’ve only hit the top 100 recently. And the old English surnames are likely (mutatis mutandis) underrepresented because at least some/a significant number of people named Williams or Jones have been until recently de facto non-starters for Presidential timber because they were either black or much-lower-class white. ---
**Author:** ![Bri2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/48db29/32.png) [@Bri2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bri2k)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/8 "2011-10-20T23:05:50Z")
I know a guy at work named Goering and according to him, even though he’s very distantly related to the former Reichsmarschall, his family’s been in the U.S. for over a century. Hitler comes from Heidler which is a fairly common German name. Hess/Hoess border on being a Deutsch version of Jones. Schickelgruber, on the other hand, is a bit unusual. Bri2k ---
**Author:** ![code\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@code\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/code_grey)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/9 "2011-10-21T19:25:27Z")
then there are the Heitlers [Heitler - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heitler) . [Walter Heitler](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Heitler), for instance, was a German-Jewish physicist who had the good sense of relocating to England shortly before WW2. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/10 "2011-10-21T21:06:53Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I couldn’t think of a tactful way to bring it up, but it always seemed to me there was not a lot of overlap between the most common names in the U.S. and the names of presidents. There have been two president Johnsons (second-most common name) and a Wilson (8), a Taylor (10) and a Jackson (13), but it start to get thinner after that. There were a few Adamses (36) and a Carter (40). Those and Washington (90) are the only ones in the top 100. But that’s based on the census in 1990 and I’m wondering it just looks like common names are underrepresented because of changes in demographics over the years. And, I believe that a significant number of the Washingtons alive in the US right now are descendants of people who adopted the name Washington in the 1800’s (e.g. freed slaves who wanted or needed a last name). ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/11 "2011-10-22T03:43:01Z")
> [@Bri2k](#): > > I know a guy at work named Goering and according to him, even though he’s very distantly related to the former Reichsmarschall, his family’s been in the U.S. for over a century. Hitler comes from Heidler which is a fairly common German name. Hess/Hoess border on being a Deutsch version of Jones. > > Schickelgruber, on the other hand, is a bit unusual. > > Bri2k How about [Schwanzstucker](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SClmiso_2Y)? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/12 "2011-10-22T18:01:46Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > \ And the old English surnames are likely (mutatis mutandis) underrepresented because at least some/a significant number of people named Williams or Jones have been until recently de facto non-starters for Presidential timber because they were either black or much-lower-class white. Just to note that neither Williams nor Jones are old **English** surnames, regardless of any ethnic or class-based influence ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/13 "2011-10-22T18:40:16Z")
I don’t think Rommel was a Nazi at all. Indeed, he was involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler. Anyway, I very much doubt that the phenomenon described by the OP (if real) is unique to the Nazi leadership. It is probably just a reflection of the fact that in most countries (Western ones anyway) although common surnames are more common than any particular uncommon one, all the relatively uncommon surnames taken together are far more common than the common ones: there are a few common surnames, but a huge number of uncommon ones, so most people,in fact, have an uncommon surname. Incidentally, why should names like Williams and Jones be predominantly Black or “much-lower-class” white? Is this really the case? It is true that they are not English names, but they are very common, white, British names. I have never heard that the Welsh were ever an oppressed ethnicity in America (and if the names are common amongst blacks, that presumably indicates that certain Williamses and Jonses were once major slave owners, i.e., part of the American wealthy elite). ---
**Author:** ![studmuffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@studmuffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/studmuffin)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/14 "2011-10-22T20:01:41Z")
What is also strange is that, apart from maybe Speer, none of the main Nazi big wigs were anything like the tall, blonde Nordic supermen they espoused. A real bunch of lousy physical specimens. Goering was a wheezy lardbutt. Hitler, Hess and Himmler were shortish and dark. Goebbels was a hunchback with a club foot. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/15 "2011-10-22T23:41:35Z")
> [@studmuffin](#): > > What is also strange is that, apart from maybe Speer, none of the main Nazi big wigs were anything like the tall, blonde Nordic supermen they espoused. > A real bunch of lousy physical specimens. > > Goering was a wheezy lardbutt. > Hitler, Hess and Himmler were shortish and dark. > Goebbels was a hunchback with a club foot. [Reinhard Heydrich](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heydrich), the very picture of Aryan purity. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/16 "2011-10-23T11:20:36Z")
> [@studmuffin](#): > > Goebbels was a hunchback with a club foot. And antlers. Don’t forget the antlers. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/17 "2011-10-24T04:12:59Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > [Reinhard Heydrich](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heydrich), the very picture of Aryan purity. I thought, though, that he was solidly in the second tier of leaders, answering to Himmler. And he didn’t join the party until 1931. As for the non-“Aryan”-ness of the very top guys like Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels et al, I’m guessing that guys who needed to find a wacko party like this to belong to in the Twenties were by and large social outcasts. Someone with movie star looks or who was in any other way impressive probably wouldn’t feel the need to hang around with Nazi crackpots while they were still congregating in beer halls. Goering was probably an exception, as he was a genuine war hero and was decent looking before he put on the pounds. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/18 "2011-10-24T06:31:02Z")
I worked with a woman with the last name Mengele. Never could bring myself to ask her if she was related to the famous Mengele. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-unusual-is-it-that-most-top-nazis-had-seemingly-uncommon-names/600265/19 "2011-10-24T06:47:35Z")
I was just looking around for a picture of Hermann Goering, and found a painting of him at the bottom of [this page](http://www.armchairgeneral.com/fliegen-und-siegen.htm). The caption reads: “An unusually flattering portrait of Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering. In this rendering, the artist display[s] a well-developed sense of self-preservation.” Heh.