Title, name and background for a German character with a stereotypically aristocratic name.

[penitentmoomin]

Anyone who has a name that strongly suggests a national, class or other stereotype has to learn to deal with the reactions of other people. I want one of the characters in my novel, a German living in Britain, to have a name and title that sounds to British ears almost ridiculously typical of a German noble; like something from a movie. As a result

Comments

[lied_ohne_worte]

I'm not too well up on all this, but just a note: None of these people actually have "noble titles" any more according to German law, nor are they "aristocrats". They're just normal citizens. The "Freiherr" etc. is technically part of their name, not a title. That's why they are Karl-Theodor etc. Freiherr zu Guttenberg, rather than "Freiherr Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg". Some of them try to keep up all the old customs and count out their place in the line to the non-existent German throne, but that's all theatre.

That of course also means that it is absolutely not required to address someone like that as "Herr Baron", seeing as he is not actually a baron. I'd address him as "Herr zu Guttenberg", so basically "Herr + Lastname" just like every other German. Mind, there are people who like to read the gossip papers and would fall over themselves fawning, who might do that sort of thing. I however (and I'm not the only one thinking like that) am a German citizen of exactly equal "rank" to such persons. I'll respect them just like I respect every other person - less, in fact, if they go around making a meal of them being "nobility".

Not all of them even do use those "titles": The father of the notorious Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg is a conductor of classical music, Enoch zu Guttenberg. And he does not use the "title", only the normal name, including the "zu", say on disk covers or concert programs. Among the circles that listen to classical music, he gets recognition for his musical work, not his "nobility".

Similarly, many of them actually do not own their family seats. They often have been taken over by the state, as they're not too easy to make money on nowadays if you can't exploit the peasants living on them, while eating up huge sums of money to even maintain and heat. The "nobles" that you don't hear anything about in gossip papers that try to keep smaller estates going often are quite poor in money; they try to finance the upkeep of big old buildings by agriculture and forestry, often meaning they get to work themselves.

Sorry, this is not precisely an answer to your question, just a point I wanted to make.

[openidwouldwork]

Another German here, can I say 'genau' or exactly like said in the above post? And thank you so much for the post lied_ohne_worte!

[penitentmoomin]

Thanks. Based on your reply and that of asthenie_vd, I've somewhat diminished my estimate of the difference between the reactions my main character has been getting all his life as he grew up in Germany and the reactions he gets when he comes to Britain. In both places he'll get some undeserved fawning and also some undeserved ridicule, with, I think, an extra undercurrent of hostility in Britain.

I've noted that German noble titles no longer have any legal status. Nonetheless I hope that I can come up with understandable reasons to have my character keep some remnant of his aristocratic identity, such as pressure from the expectations of his family.