# Need German neologism, bitte
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-german-neologism-bitte/539143
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 12, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-german-neologism-bitte/539143 "2010-05-12T03:41:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@troubledwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troubledwater)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-german-neologism-bitte/539143/1 "2010-05-12T03:41:33Z")
Doppelganger translates as “double-goer,” understood as one’s (perhaps ghostly or sinister) double.
What would the German word look like for “double-named?” I am looking for a clever way to reference the only other person who turns up on my Google vanity search.
I’m hoping the answer isn’t Doppelnamer. That just sounds lame.
Thanks.
I guess the answer could be opinions, but I am looking for accurate word-formation.
---
### Author:  [@Rex\_Goliath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Goliath)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-german-neologism-bitte/539143/2 "2010-05-12T04:39:51Z")
Doppelgoogler?
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-german-neologism-bitte/539143/3 "2010-05-12T04:42:32Z")
Doppelgenannt?
---
### Author:  [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2010, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-german-neologism-bitte/539143/4 "2010-05-12T06:00:37Z")
If you are looking for a word meaning “having two names” it would be
“Zweinamiger” oder “Doppelnamiger”
---
### Author:  [@The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Piranha_Brothers)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2010, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-german-neologism-bitte/539143/5 "2010-05-12T07:54:46Z")
Gleichnamige? Namensvetter?
---
### Author:  [@Mycroft\_Holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_Holmes)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2010, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-german-neologism-bitte/539143/6 "2010-05-12T11:01:03Z")
> [@The\_Piranha\_Brothers](#):
>
> Gleichnamige? Namensvetter?
German native speaker chiming in: “Namensvetter” fits your requirement
[Quote=Ms. Meta]
I am looking for a clever way to reference the only other person who turns up on my Google vanity search.
[/QUOTE]
best.
---
### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-german-neologism-bitte/539143/7 "2010-05-12T22:45:30Z")
However, I think an English speaker would more readily understand Doppelnamiger, even if it is technically incorrect.
---
### Author:  [@troubledwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troubledwater)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-german-neologism-bitte/539143/8 "2010-05-13T00:28:29Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> However, I think an English speaker would more readily understand Doppelnamiger, even if it is technically incorrect.
And there’s the dilemma - I want a doppel- prefixed word, but it sounds like “Namensvetter” would the the most correct.
There is absolutely nothing riding on this, by the way, I just like the idea.
---
### Author:  [@Mycroft\_Holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_Holmes)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2010, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-german-neologism-bitte/539143/9 "2010-05-17T06:55:45Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> However, I think an English speaker would more readily understand Doppelnamiger, even if it is technically incorrect.
However, Doppelnamiger more often refers to someone who has two last names, like “Frau Leutheuser-Schnarrenberger”.
---
### Author:  [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2010, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-german-neologism-bitte/539143/10 "2010-05-17T07:43:01Z")
What the Op wants is a term for “name twin,” but with the prefix “doppel” so that it will be a recognizable extension of the concept of a doppelganger.
So how about something like, “double caller,” “double pointer,” or maybe “double user” as in username-double. But in German.
Or, you could mix your metaphors, like say, “doppelmister.” But it seems like that would work better for men, heh.
---
### Author:  [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2010, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-german-neologism-bitte/539143/11 "2010-05-17T07:43:28Z")
Someone who shares the same name: _Namensvetter_ (literally ‘name-first-cousin (male)’) - strictly applying to males but sometimes also applied to women as in [this Spiegel Online article about Kelly Hildebrandt marrying Kelly Hildebrandt](http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/0,1518,637392,00.html).
The logical equivalent for women would be _Namensbase_ (‘name-first-cousin (female)’) but I have never heard that word being used.
Someone who has a double-barreled surname: _Doppelnamensträger_ (male) / _Doppelnamensträgerin_ (female)
---
### Author:  [@Mycroft\_Holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_Holmes)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2010, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-german-neologism-bitte/539143/12 "2010-05-17T09:14:29Z")
> [@tschild](#):
>
> The logical equivalent for women would be _Namensbase_ (‘name-first-cousin (female)’) but I have never heard that word being used.
Wow, not many people still know the old German word for female-cousin: “Base”. I think it’s mainly used in Southern German dialects (Schwäbisch, Bayrisch, Fränkisch) currently. In northern and middle Germany “Ćousine” is used more often.
3/4 of my grandparents are Schwäbisch, so I still met my grandmothers “Bäsle” (dialect diminutive of the word for a female cousin).
---
### Author:  [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-german-neologism-bitte/539143/13 "2010-05-17T19:26:07Z")
Never heard Base, only Kusine.
While it isn’t echt German, I’d go for “Doppelwebber” {pronounce it with a good V where the W is, or not}. “you’d never believe what my Doppelwebber has just done NOW!”
---
### Author:  [@troubledwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troubledwater)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2010, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-german-neologism-bitte/539143/14 "2010-05-18T01:08:19Z")
> [@brujaja](#):
>
> What the Op wants is a term for “name twin,” but with the prefix “doppel” so that it will be a recognizable extension of the concept of a doppelganger.
This is exactly the idea. I had no idea it would be so complicated. I’m kinda liking “Doppelgoogler,” even though it does not meet my original criterion of being actual German.
FTR, my name is semi-uncommon, with a semi-unusual spelling, adding up to there being only one match out there. She has the same middle initial, and went to a college with the same initials as the one I attended. Googling the name and seeing the school initials could leave a person pretty confused.