Hi everyone

My current campaign is set in the wonderful toxic Venice of the North, Hamburg, and I've got some trouble to find good german streetnames for my cast of shadow. Could some German speaking Dumpshockers help me?
I'm not looking for specific streetnames, just a list I could pick some names in when I need to find a streetname on the fly.

Thanks in advance.

Feuerfrau
Hel
Hildegard
Hofmann
Mörder

-Frank

English names are pretty popular, IMHO, as street names, as are other languages.

you have no idea about what would be a good german street-name do you? *g*
i'd only take one of the first two, the other three? honestly? they just plain suck ^^

Problem with names is, that one would need a general Idea of the Character to pick out something fitting . .
for example, would you call a hacker killer? or a mage Gunny?

Yes, there are lots of runners named Killer.

And if you think Hofmann would be a bad name for a shadow chemist or Hildegard would be a bad name for a mage, you sir have no sense of history.

-Frank

nah, not when it comes to physics and magic *g*
Only Oppenheimer has a place in my heart ^^

In my opinion, those who take street names are not the ones to have the education to care about history. I don't really see why people without some exagerated sense of "coolness" would pick some fancy street name anyway. It's more likely, IMHO, that people pick their streetnames for them. Most more intelligent people would probably pick a simple cover name, and their street names would grow from their rep (like "Machine gun Kelly" or so).

Remember "Undercover Blues"? Morty there calling himself "Muerto" seemed like that, some runner picking a pretentious name to look cool. In Shadowrun, I'd have his street name be Morty, since everyone calls him like that (at least when he's not around to hear it).

*points at Fuchs*
that right there, would qualify as a good german street-name *grins*
furthermore, i'd not call a samurai muerto, simple mort would suffice for me ^^

Actually, the character "Fuchs" was an american runner in Seattle, with no connection to Germany. The name "Fuchs" was picked to make people believe there was some link to Germany.

Fuchs also is a regular name, like Smith or Jones, in German, if not as common.

I like the last one the most, but why do you have the "-" i front of it?

Lars

still a pretty good name for a german runner, especially female and/or with red hair *g*

Hm, my German is decidedly rusty, but I remember a physad (NPC, he was the old trainer of one of the character) who got the name Ziegel Cackenhaus...

I'll let people translate that on their own.

Walküre
Wagner
Panzer
Bunker
Messer
Ratte
Axt
Todesfall
Wellenbrecher
Stress
Rhesus
Scharlatan
Telegraf
Der Graf
Werwolf
Der Arzt
Kruppstahl
Datenhai

German Streetnames are somewhat complicated, as its more a mix of different languages, with german and english being the dominant ones.



Those are ok, with the exeption of Mörder - I guess the runner in question would rather call himself "Killer". The reasons for this...hm, many people probaply thinl "Killer" sounds somewhat cool, while Mörder just doesn't. But another example for this might be the ink eraser, which in german is calle a Tintenkiller (Tinte = Ink) and not a Tintenmörder. Also I see a general tendancy in german runners to use english "streetnames". Ohter influences that are quite common, come from the middle east, russia and poland.

German streetnames also often tend to be more something like a nickname, if they aren't cultural or historical (which is often a good idea). Hildegard for example would most likely never be called that, but Hilde instead. Feuerfrau is an example of a streetname without "flow" so I guess as soon as friends of her came up with something, she would have a new name. There is quite a good chance for this to happen with most of the longer names (not all though).

Animals work ofcause, but again some do, others don't. Fuchs is one of the very good working examples, Wolf, Rabe, Maus, Ratte even Tiger should work. Hund (dog), Affe (Monkey) would not work that much, as ists more of an insult, while Katze could work but is more likely to be called cat. Leopard (lepard) odr Löwe (lion) would turn into Leo in the most cases.

Frank Trollman by the way is another good example for a german streetname.

Most Germans would use english street names because they sound much cooler.
Nontheless here are some suitable german words:

Angst
Schreck
Oktoberfest (since playing Interstate 76 back in the day I want to build a rigger with that name!)
Sauer
Hauer
Ass (thats German for ace)
Freitag
Stern
Wolf
Chaos

Danke sehr

Most of them sound more strange than a good streetname in my (german) ears

Here's a thread in a german forum about streetnames, but many of them aren't german: http://www.sr-nexus.de/bb/strassennamen-t1654.html - simply look through there and take what sounds german to you

Zeitgeist and Laputan Machine.

By the way... "As" is german for "Ace", Ass is only english for...ass

Nope, that's wrong. The german translation of "ace" is in fact written "Ass".

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ass_%28Spielkarte%29

A lot of German Runner names tend to be two-word compounds, rather than a single word. You just can't tell because German doesn't separate the two component words with a space. But as a lot of people here have mentioned, English or Japanese names are common, especially among the more globally mobile runners.

But have a few 'classic' names off the top of my head:

Gipfelstürmer
Feuerbringer (classic fire mage name)
Jagdpanther
Sandmann
Onkel Doktor
Biestinger (for a SURGEling)
Stahlbeton

That's like calling oneself FastJack.

Well, American for arse.

To be absolutely correct, both is right. After looking it up Ass is the new form, while As is the old form. Yet in context to english "As" might be the better one to use.



point

My personal favorite German Street name was in Wien. Burger Spital Gasse (pronounced Burger Shpeetal gassah). It's around the Burgenland zwei dormatory, off of Maria Hilfe Strasse near Westbahnhof.

To contribute:

Maria Hilfe
Ottosbauer
Karlsplatz
Mollard Gasse
Kartner Strasse

A Shadowrunner called after a street? Hm, personally, someone called "2nd Avenue" might even be cool, but "Kartner Strasse" doesn't sound like a german person's name nor does it sound cool... I would exchange "Burger Spital Gasse" to "Spitalgassler" (someone coming from the "Spital Gasse"). The other ones would probably made shorter anyway, probably people would start "Kartner Strasse" (which sounds awfully not like a person's name) simply "Kartner", etc.

One of my German characters is a former-soldier-turned-samurai type going by the street name of "Stuffz" (pronounced Shtoofts) which is the actual German Army lingo abbreviation for the rank Stabsunteroffizier (equivalent to a US Army E-5 Sergeant).

If you do not want those Killer names, but unstead blend into the crowd, there are a few other suggestions.

- Peter Müller (perfectly normal name, but used as often as to be without real information. There are like 12 of them in my city alone...)
- (Max or Manfred) Mustermann - a rough translation would be "sam sample" or "John Doe" - used as a placeholder to show how to fill in a form.

For a Rigger, "bleifrei" could be nice - it means as much as "without lead" - be it fuel or ammunition.

I once made a Runner called "Der Anschlag" (Yes, the "the" was left in).

Anschlag, as far as I know (I'm still only Mittelstuffe in learning die Deutsch), can mean a variety of things, but some of the main definitions include assault, attack, strike, etc. This fit my character beautifully; Street Sam that had some pretty nasty unarmed combat skills (and bone lacing to add to it, natch), as well as some pretty nasty firearm skills.

If you want to use terms already used in other fictional mediums, there's also Schattenjäger (Shadow Hunter), taken from Gabriel Knight 2. Good for someone that prefers to pursue evil spirits and ghouls, possibly.

Other than that, I'd need to know a little about the character before I could generate a good name for 'em.

it shows *snickers*
but if you're in germany, are you an exchange student? O.o

Yeah, thanks.

What mistake did I make, exactly?

No. Attempting to attend the Heidelberg University as a full-on student. Currently have a residency permit, and eventually hoping for a student visa, as I'm currently applying to the university itself to pursue a degree in History.

Die is a female pronoun, like in "the woman"(die frau), and usually, you don't put any pronoun before the language aside from seldom occurences . .

corrected:

if you really want to put a german word into an sentence . .
better would have been:

IF you have to put something like the(in germany, that one word means he/she/it[er/sie/es]) DAS Deutsch would be the best usage of such a word.
Das Deutsch, The German
but The German would also translate into Der Deutsche, meaning something male from germany, it would also translate into Die Deutsche, meaning something female from germany, and lastly it would translate into Das Deutsche, which means SOMETHING neither female nor male from germany

and sorry for me snickering, it's commendable that you're trying to actually learn our language *grins* ^^
and ask questions, if you don't you won't learn . . think we learn english in school over here? think again, we get some basics that would not even get us something to eat and shown to the bathroom . . my english may not be the best there is, but at least i can carry a conversation regarding my chosen field of expertise to help people in getting their computers online via phonecalls . .

Ah, okay.

I did not see that word as necessary for translation, as I really was in a course titled "Mittelstuffe 1A", and didn't see any particular reason to say "middle level". Plus using the actual german word would demonstrate, you know, that I'm undergoing a local german system, which I wanted to do without directly saying it. So yes, I guess not wanting to translate every single word might show I'm not a native speaker... I know how you people are about precision and being "proper"...

But die Sprache. Fun stuff.

Believe me, I'll never actually learn it. Between dative, accusative, genetive, passiv, perfect tense, gender, and various other nice little qualities, I don't think that I'll ever be able to combine them into a cohesive whole. But hey, at least I have a month in the Volkhochschule to try it out.


And carry on a conversation on an internet forum, although personal experience shows me that determination and the willingness to use the proper materials (college-level textbook and dictionary, for example), can suffice for a slow-rate online conversation.

Herr Otto Flick - former Bundesamt für Innere Sicherheit agent that's now set up as a freelance spy/information broker.

How is As/Ass pronounced in German?

ah, yes, fun stuff . . forget it as soon as you don't need it for your grades . . most germans don't know their way around most of these either . .
you just figure out how it's supposed to sound and there you go . .

depends largely on context
as = as tall as? or the card from the card-game? or a dead meat body?
ass = mule/donkey/bodypart? or the card from the card game/someone who is good at what he does?

the german A is more or less pronounced like the southern drawl i over in america . .
i am is usually pronounced kinda like eye äm, but in southern drawl, it's often enough A'hm or something like that . . at least it is in bad movies and TV-shows, my only source for those comparsions ^^
hard to get that one across through written words somehow @.@

As or Ass, as in ace, is pronounced somewhat like "us" is pronounced in english.

dammit . . yes, you're right . . why the hell did i not think of that comparsion? @.@
too early/hot/bright over here <.<

I feel your pain

Atze (brother)
Ralle (no real translation, could mean a greedy person)
Kralle (claw)
Schnubbel (doesn't really mean anything)
Stift (pen, means short person)
Schlumpf (smurf)
Ratte (rat)
Festus (no real translation)
Hasso (a typical dog's name)
Schinder (a torturer or trainer)
Beule (boil, could be a violent person)
Warze (wart, could be a small person)
Stummel (stumpy)
Stummelchen (stumpy, only even littler)
(Dr.) Faust (fist, also a title of a play by Goethe)

and of course each and any of the old gods and other assorted legendary stuff
Siegfried, Odin, Wotan, Mjöllnir, Freja, Frieda, Fricke, Baldur, Thor, Sleipnir, Fenrir (very popular that one), Hugin, Munin ....

If you need more, just ask.

And the single most important rule of street names is...only one person in 100 gets a cool one. Oh, the character might call themselves something super-fly like "Death Dealer" or "Night Viper" but everyone else calls them "Hopscotch" after the character got faceplanted in the middle of a chalked gaming area for the game by The Star when they were 16...

You mean like
"Und das ist L.H., unser Samurai"
"L.H.?"
"Ladehemmung"

("And this is G.J., our Samurai"
"G.J.?"
"Gun Jam")

LOL...I like it!

Of course, the correct usage is the, ever popular, "Oh Shit!" for about everyone regardless of language.
Jams are actually fairly uncommon as they're a true "weapon is stuck in an inoperable state despite simple action manipulation" rather than "my gun just hiccuped and a tap (on the butt of the magazine), rack(ing the action), (pulling the trigger for the) bang fixed it" (aka the Oh Shit! drill) as is usually the case with a decent weapon that is maintained correctly.

Echo that. Even today, the concept of Spitznamen - nicknames - is widely spread among Germans. And only very few of these acknowledge a positive attribute (or an event in the life) of the person it designates. At least some are of neutral connotation. Despite what has previously been written, most Spitznamen have two things in common: They are short, and they end in some form of diminutive.

Examples from sports are:

"Schumi" (no special meaning), nickname of Michael Schumacher, German racing driver.
"Schweini" (Piggy, if you'd add a "g"), nickname of Bastian Schweinsteiger, German soccer player.
"Bummbumm" (Bang Bang), nickname of Boris Becker, German tennis ace.
"Calli" (no special meaning), nickname of Reiner Calmund, an imposing German soccer functionary.
"Jogi" (no special meaning, though it sounds exactly like Yogi), nickname of Joachim Loew, German national soccer coach.

Examples from entertainment or politics are:

"Dirty Harry" (reference self-explanatory), nickname of Harald Schmidt, German entertainer known for his biting humour,
"Bruder Johannes " (Friar John), nickname of Johannes Rau, former German President, a rather scholarly calm fellow.
"Acker" (field), nickname of Gerhard Schroeder, former German chancellor, so called among his soccer mates.
"Moertel", (masonic mortar) nickname of Richard Lugner, Austrian construction entrepreneur.

Generic examples:

"Atze", abbreviation of Arthur and etymologically close to "aetzend", acidic in English.
"Kalle", abbreviation of Karl-Heinz and sounding similarly to "kalt", cold in English, or "kahl", bald in English.
"Hecki" or "Hecke", abbreviation of Eckhardt (or even Hakan). Hecke means hedge, so it would be close to Heckenschuetze (sniper).
"Manni" oder "Manne", abbreviation of Manfred, etcetera, no special meaning except the closeness to man, manly and such.

"Backe", (Cheek), someone who might stand a lot of punishment ("Backstein" means brick, for example).
"Birne", (pear). Either that person's head (positive for mental faculties) or body (negatively for its shape) is noteworthy. Might even be both, as with Helmut Kohl.
"Glatze", (bald head) might be someone with little or no hair, someone with a name like that (e.g. Winfried Glatzeder, German film director) or someone in the political extreme right or left corner (white skinhead, red skinhead).
"Hacke", (heel as well as pick), someone either rough or often drunk.
"Koepper", (head-on jump or soccer move using the head to goal, derived from "Kopf", head in English) someone always using his head or going first.

"Trecker", (tractor) someone strong and/or enduring, but rather limited in his abilities.
"Weicher", (male soft one) - as software might derogatorily be called "Weichware" (its literal translation), that one might be a hacker or someone with only "soft skills", not useful in a "real" fight.
"Knacker", (lit. cracker) similar to "Knackwurst", a sausage, or "Knacki", slang for someone in or fresh out of the poky. Comes from and is used to describe a safe-breaker ("Tresorknacker") or a code-breaker ("Code-Knacker").
"Langer", (male long one). If not the person's actual family name, or some form thereof, then it's probably the distinctly tallest person in a wide area.

Rarely but still, people might be named after the tools they use:
"Hobel", (planing tool). As someone uncouth is "ungehobelt" (not planed), a "Hobel" is used to smooth things out.
"Hammer", self-explanatory. Most often, that person had a bad mishap with said tool (though they might try to explain their nickname with their physical strength or the size of a body part not found on females).
"Brecheisen", (crow-bar). Thin veil for a stubborn person.
"Kelle", (trowel). Also someone who lays it on thick.

Least often someone would be called after an item, because that usually trespasses that fine line into name-calling territory.
"Schrank", (cup-board). Means broad-shouldered.
"Karre", (wheelbarrow). Most probably someone named Karl, but with a remarkable car (and usually the only one among a group).
"Treppe", (staircase). Might be someone so eager to reach his goals that he would go over other people's heads. Or dead bodies.

There are a lot more, but the general principle is, hopefully, clear. German Street names might be something not related to a person's real name (that's the concept of street names, after all). But even more than elsewhere they would be related to a person's attitude, attributes or a specific event, if given in a manner similar to a person's Spitzname. As Isath already said long ago, the shorter, the better. Not only because of tactical purposes, but not to be laughed at.

And by the way, it's "Mittelstufe" (single "f") for midlevel.