Call me Carmen

German names are great. I am sure I pronounce them terribly, but I am a big fan. And they're not snarky, clever names like Apple, Rumer, and Pilot Inspektor. Here are a few of my favorite names of some of the people I work with, and have met around town. Feel free to add your own:

- Manuela Bosch (I love that combo of Spanish and German. How unexpected! It's like Diego Greenberg, so cute!)
- Falk (it just strikes me as different)
- Otto (it's the same forwards and back)
- Kai (that's a guy's name. and he's handsome too.)
- Maike, Heike, Leike (I just like the 'kuh' sound at the end)
- Ingo (he sounds like a fun guy, right?)

And as a side note, people in Germany seem to all have different names. Sure there are a couple of Marcuses, Susannes, and Stefans, but it is not at all like Russia where EVERYONE is named the same thing, only their nicknames might be different to distinguish them from each other:

Natasha (call her Nata for short), Elena (Lena), Ekatarina (hello Katya!), Yuri (nicknamed Yura), Vladimir (what kind of macho nickname is Vlodia?), Anastasia (Nastya anyone?), Dmitri (Mitya), Tatyana (Privet Tanja!).

I really think those are the only names in the Russian language.