Dear Swistle,
First, I must tell you how much I love your blog. I recently had a baby and find myself reading the archives during those middle of the night feedings, sometimes long after baby has fallen back asleep.
I’m writing because I’m curious about a particular name I couldn’t even get my husband to consider for our daughter. I am a huge The Sound of Music fan and have always loved the names, particularly Liesl. My husband thinks it’s atrocious. I think it’s beautiful. I’ve never come across the name on your site and was curious what you and your readers thought. Is everyone with my husband on this one and that’s why we never hear it?
We had such a difficult time naming our daughter, I thought I’d get a head start on the next one, and maybe you could help me convince my husband it’s not such a terrible name. Looking forward to your thoughts!
I started by searching for the name on the blog, and found four posts that mention Liesl:
Baby Names from The Sound of Music
Baby Girl Aronoff
Baby Girl Korph
Baby Girl L_____
I went through the comments quickly, and saw several positive remarks and several negative. The negatives were:
1. sounds like diesel
2. sounds like lethal when said in child’s lispy voice
3. hard to spell
4. husband doesn’t like it
“Sounds like diesel” was the main reason Paul and I crossed it off our list, but we also considered the style to be an outlier for us.
Let’s have a poll to see what everyone else thinks. I always have trouble choosing poll options: no matter what I choose, it doesn’t really cover everything. So let’s use the poll to get a rough distribution of feeling, and then we can use the comments section for more specific opinions.
I love it! It’s a little too out-there for me to actually use (also my husband immediately shot it down when I just now asked him), but I would be thrilled to see it on another little girl. It came onto my radar when I read the book Liesl and Po (a wonderful young adult book, btw). The biggest downside to me is that it’s hard to pronounce and spell, so I could see spelling it Liesel (although for me, at least, the exotic “sl” at the end is part of the appeal). The “diesel-lethal” connections seem pretty weak. I mean, my own name is close to Merry Death, oh noes!
Mary Death is also the name of a fun web comic, btw. I think it’s defunct now, but I really enjoyed it. http://www.marydeathcomics.com
(Also agree that diesel/lethal is a stretch for me. I love the sound, I just don’t tend toward German names so much.)
I like it. Although when this post appeared in my RSS feed, I thought it said “Lies!” Maybe I see too many exclamation points ;)
This is my main criticism too — it’s too similar to Lies (or Lies!). Personally it’s also just not my style, but I don’t think it’s a terrible name either.
I saw that, too!!
I also read the title as “Baby Name to Consider: Lies!” and was surprised. NOT the best name, was my thought. It was several seconds before the optical illusion switched back to Liesl. However, it’s a good mnemonic for remembering how to spell the name.
I do love the sound of the name.
Maybe alt spelling Liesel would correct the “lies” problem? I love the sweet, hushy sound of Liesl and would absolutely use it as a middle name if not a first name. I hear its a bit of clunker by modern German standards but meh. I also happen to love Lieselot which could be read as “Lies a lot” >_< Part of the reason we've ruled it out as a future middle name (Anna Lies a lot?) Sigh. I love you, Lieselot, stay gold.
I do like it but it seems slight to me. I’d prefer it as a nickname for Elizabeth or another Elizabeth variant, I think.
I really like it and we briefly considered it for our daughter. My husband likes it too, but he is ON BOARD for Germanic names in general.
Hmmm. Nothing wrong with it, and I can see a wee Liesl as easily as a capable grown-up one. I just like Elisabeth or Anneliese or Elise better than Liesl, personally. But I don’t tend towards the Germanic names.
I would like it better if it were spelled Liesel. When it’s spelled with no E before the L, I look at the name and only see the word, “lies”.
I like it too! However after reading the other posts, I realized that maybe I pronounce it wrong? That would also explain why I didn’t really get the diesel connection. Anyway I’ve alway used a soft ‘s’ sorta like ‘Le-sil’
Anyone else pronounce it like that, or is that just wrong?
That’s how I pronounce it, too. Well, or maybe with a sort of blended s/z sound. I say diesel with the same kind of sound: more S than Z.
I pronounce it the same way, but for me that rhymes with diesel.
For me the immediate Sound of Music connection is very strong. I would personally get annoyed with all the inevitable singing/movie related comments. But the sound of the name is quite pleasant.
Using Liesl as a nickname for Elisabeth would be fun!
It’s a perfectly nice name — but I chose “problematic” a) because it rhymes both with diesel and with weasel, and b) because I fear it would be frequently misspelled and mispronounced.
I like it. I would use it if the last name I am working with weren’t already so strongly german; as it is we try to balance our names to represent the irish side of our heritage as well as the german.
I think it’s a cute name for a child that can transition to a great adult name. On another note, I know someone name Liesli and for the longest time thought her name was Lisa Lee. However, I like the name more now that I know it is actually Liesli.
I voted “I like it but think it’s problematic”, but what I mean by that is, I like it for someone else’s baby, but it is not my style.
If there was a little girl named Liesl in one of my sons’ classes, I would be charmed.
I hate to be Debbie downer of the group but I really don’t like it. I didn’t make te connection to Sound of Music, and I feel as time continues to progress, less and less people will be familiar with it. I instantly assumed the name was a made-up spin off Diesel for a boy. So then when I further read it was for a girl I was totally shocked. It looks and sounds very masculine. The only thing I do like of it is the potential for nn Lies but I would rather get there using a different name such as Aleesa, etc.
Sorry!!!
It’s funny that I assumed that the objection would be that it sounds like “weasel.” I don’t find diesel particularly bothersome, but weasel’s pretty bad.
I’m of two minds on this. I like it sort of like I like names like Gretchen and Gertrude. They’re ugly-cute. Now, I wouldn’t want to be named Gretchen, Gertrude, or Liesl, but I can appreciate them. If your child were beautiful and confident, an ugly-cute name could really work for her. But if she’s not, or if she, god forbid, were to look at bit like a weasel, then this name could be difficult to bear.
I have to add that I really hate the Sound of Music, so you can take my opinion with a grain of salt.
My suggestion would be that you call her Elizabeth and use Liesl as a nickname. This gives her the option of using it or one of the many other Elizabeth-derived nicknames.
Ooh great idea with the Elizabeth to Liesl nn use!!
I really like the name when I hear it. Very pretty and evocative.
The problem is when I see it written I seem to read Lies!
Obviously not a positive connotation. I’m not sure if this is just my brain doing this or if others experience the same thing but it would be enough to discourage me.
I don’t see how people think it rhymes with weasel, which has a z sound, no s sound. Is there a part of the country that pronounces weasel with an s sound? I like the name! It sounds very hip and trendy since foreign names are all the rage.
I honestly don’t get the “it rhymes with diesel/weasel” objections. Jane rhymes with pain. Hattie rhymes with fatty. Gus rhymes with pus. Etc. Most names rhyme with something, and diesel and weasel seem relatively innocuous to me, if not particularly flattering.
I LOVE this name, but I’m a big fan of German and Scandinavian style names. I’d use pretty much any of the Sound of Music kids’ names for a baby, to be honest. Except maybe not Kurt. But I’d totes throw a Friedrich or Gretl on my kid, so Liesl is right up my alley.
And, incidentally, I know of a baby Liesl who was born this year. :)
I think the rhyming issue comes up more when we’re talking about a highly unusual name, especially if it contains a highly-unusual (or particularly evocative) sound. We’re so accustomed to the name Jane, it hits our ears as “a name” rather than “a sound”; also, -ane/-ain is a very common sound in our language. Both of those things mean the name Jane doesn’t make our brain do as much racing around in the files to find connecting information. (Though parents do sometimes still worry about the Plain Jane issue.) But the name Liesl and the -iesl sound are both very uncommon in U.S. English, so the mind can leap automatically to categorize/place it—resulting in the sorts of instant connections people are mentioning here.
But of course if it doesn’t do that for you, it doesn’t do that for you. Names are subjective, and this is one of many examples WHY they’re so subjective: different people have different reactions to different names. Diesel/weasel doesn’t spring to your mind, but it does spring to someone else’s mind. All the different perspectives are good to combine into an overview about what parents can expect from the general public.
That makes sense. Names are so subjective! Everyone has such different thresholds for what bothers them. I can understand gathering as much information as possible about how a name strikes other people; but I’d also encourage the OP to just go for it if she and her husband can come to an agreement on it. Some names are kind of those high risk, high reward name where some people LOVE them and some people REALLY DON’T. Im personally more drawn to those names, but I can also understand wanting a less polarizing option.
(Also I didn’t mean to post my original comment as a reply to a comment. Whoops. I was on my phone and must have clicked the wrong field; the replies aren’t nested on there so it wasn’t as obvious.)
That’s interesting — I think you’re absolutely right. Meeting someone named Mary doesn’t make me think “rhymes with hairy/scary,” but meeting someone named Mubby would make me think “rhymes with chubby/grubby.”
Then again, perhaps I’m over-sensitive to these things; I know several Esthers and love the meaning behind the name, but I can’t help but be reminded of fester/pester/molester!
I don’t particularly love that my daughter’s name, Clover, rhymes with rover. I know she’ll get Red Rover jokes periodically. I did consider it, and I think it is a good idea to consider potential rhymes/teasing issues, it wasn’t a deal breaker for me.
However, I still don’t think Liesl rhymes with weasel.
When required started dating, my now-husband told me his middle name was a girl’s name from The Sound of Music. Turns out his middle name is Lecil (his grandfather’s name). I actually love Liesl because I think it would be a nice homage to my husband and his side of the family.
I don’t think the rhymes with diesel thing is an issue. It seems silly. But I also pronounce it with more of an s sound (rhyming with Cecil due to the Lecil spelling on my family). And I think most younger kids wouldn’t necessarily make The Sound of Music connection.
I love it especially if you have a German background. Also a cute nickname for Annaliese.
I think Swistle’s narrow sans serif font emphasizes the Lies!/Liesl misread. In a serif font or a font with more letter width I don’t think you will see “lies!”
Liesl is fun to say, short, spunky and feminine without being very girly. Also timeless.
Andrea: It’s not that I pronounce weasel with an s sound, but rather that I pronounce Liesl with a z sound. Actually, saying it aloud, I hear that it’s sort of in between s and z, but still the name sounds a lot like weasel.
If you don’t like the idea of naming her Elizabeth, perhaps another Elizabeth-derived name that’s similar to Liesl but arguably less problematic would work? Elise, perhaps, or Louise or Louisa?
I put that I think it might be problematic, mostly because I originally read this article’s title as “Lies!”
However, this seems like the kind of thing a person should be able to get over/might not come up at all for most people. It’s a very pretty name. Isn’t Lieslotte also a name?
I voted that I like it, and would consider it, but I wouldn’t use it. Not because I don’t like it, I love it, but it was the name of the sister of my brother’s best friend when we were teenagers. And they are still close. But, I think it’s a great name, and I honestly never thought of any of the negative connotations presented here. I always thought her name was unusual, but beautiful, especially among the more conventional names of her brothers and sisters.
I also don’t see “sounds like Diesel” as a con either, maybe because it’s the first name of the male lead in a book series that I enjoy, and so I see both of them as perfectly fine names even if they might be outliers from my personal style.
I like the name! I don’t think I’d use it (doesn’t work well with our last name) but like a previous poster said, if my child had a classmate named Liesl, I’d be so charmed and pleasantly surprised.
As for the ‘weasel/diesel” comments, I guess I pronounce “weasel” in a slightly different enough way where it’s not the same, and I guess it does rhyme with “diesel” to me, but it doesn’t bother me, mainly because I never say the word “diesel.”
Also, thinking about it a bit more, I think this is one of those names I’d love to encounter but I wouldn’t want myself, because I wouldn’t want people to always start quoting or singing from “The Sound of Music” when they met me. That’d get old quickly.
I don’t hate it, but it’s not really a favorite either. Diesel and lethal are issues for me. I find that it also sounds rather harsh to my ear-“leez al”. Current trends lean towards light and airy with lots of vowel sounds, so I can see why it might sound harsh or unattractive to some people.
Not sure that it matters if you are in the US, but I asked my native-German speaking husband and his reply was “old lady name.”
Perhaps your husband would like Annaliese better? It’s a little more flowy sounding and you could perhaps use Liesel as a nickname? You could always go a more traditional route with Elisabeth. Liesel is a diminutive of Elisabeth so you’d have it as a nickname option there too.
I have a friend names Liesel and while I found it a little odd at first, it suites her and I don’t think twice about it now. I do think the Liesl spelling is much more difficult than Liesel , which I imagine will get mispronounced less. I think its perfectly usable despite the words it rhymes with, and while it does invoke the sound of music I think less kids have seen it these days and a baby is unlikely to get huge amounts of comments from their peers.
I voted like it and would consider, but I lean towards the really like it side, but would consider with a different last name. Spouse’s last name is the one we have our kids and is very Austrian/German sounding, and so adding Liesl would give her a very strongly German name, and we aren’t very culturally German so it is a stronger association than I would want. Think Liesl Kreutz. But I think it is a lovely lilting name, although one with strong cultural associations.
I like it quite a bit, but I think the main reason it doesn’t get used much here is that it’s *SO* Germanic. Which is neither negative nor positive, it’s just not very American so it doesn’t get used much in America!
I actually forgot that it’s a Sound of Music name even though I’ve seen that movie a handful of times. As time continues to pass, I think that connection will fade more and more. For me, the connection to the character Liesl in The Book Thief was much stronger. That’s a positive connection for me though!
I would be inclined to use it as a first name only if your surname was fairly bland and easy, or maybe slightly European but still easy for a North American. A little Liesl Hernandez or Liesl Singh is jarring because you don’t expect a German first name paired with a Spanish or Indian surname. A girl named Liesl Schwartzkopf, on the other hand… would just be a bit too much German for me in one name. But a Liesl Anderson? Liesl Smith? SO CUTE.
I know a 3 year old Liesl, but I never see her name in writing really. None of these issues have ever occurred to me. It works out great in real life, and I think its a lovely name!
I love it. Short, feminine but not frilly, interesting but not weird. For me it does not quite rhyme with weasel, and I don’t think rhyming with diesel is a big deal. The Lies! thing is a non-issue for me. I suspect the Sound of Music references would be regular but not overwhelming at this point in time–and it’s a fond or neutral association for most people. (My own name, Bliss, prompts some kind of usually positive to neutral toned brief conversation with maybe 1/5 of the people I initially meet but I don’t find this burdensome.) I wouldn’t use it for my kids because my husband is Korean and it’s too German/Austrian for US West Coast kids with roots in Asia, but if I had a German family connection I would. I’d love to meet a little Liesl.
For me the Sound of Music association is strong, but I think it could work as a German heritage choice.
I love it, but probably as a nickname for Anneliese. The film is timeless, and I love her character.
I know one. It’s spelled different and with a ‘z’, but pronounced the same. I love it and I am not really bothered with diesel or weasel. But I went through a phase where I thought that the Sound of Music names were pretty perfect. Especially Liesl, Marta, and Gretl/Greta.
I knew a Liesl in college and have always liked her name. (We are in our mid-30s now.) I was vaguely aware of the Sound of Music connection, but have never seen the movie. It never made me think of Diesel or Weasel, though those do rhyme with Liesl in my head. She’s in her 30s now, with a professional job and a family, and I think the name works well on an adult, too.
That being said, if your husband just really does not like the sound of it, I doubt other people’s opinions will sway him.
Interestingly, I also know a Brigitta (no relation to Liesl)… that name is more strongly associated with the Sound of Music for me.
My first thought was of the main character Leisel from the Book Thief, which is a very positive connotation for me. I wouldn’t think of the word diesel in the slightest if I heard this name on a little girl. I think it’s a very pretty name!
I really like the name Liesl, and know a woman who named her daughter Leisl the same year The Sound of Music was released (they were stationed in Austria at the time, so felt inspired). For me the name immediately brings to mind The Sound Of Music and nothing else, although that’s a positive association.
I do have a bit of a hard time pronouncing it for some reason, and the spelling would be a bit of a hang-up for me. I spelled it wrong in this post and had to go back and correct it.
I’m from Germany, and I saw Lies! too.
I’d go for a different name that can be nicknamed Liesl. Liesl IS usually a nickname – it’s the Bavarian or Austrian diminutive for Elisabeth etc.
How about Lisbeth (LEES-bet) nn Liesl?
Also to add, it’s definitely a grandma name. In the same category (in Germany) as Gretl or Frida – although I think they are starting to have a small comeback these days.
I’ve seen several comments now about how Liesl is considered a “grandma name” in Germany right now, and I’m finding this fascinating (the comment about currently popular name types in Greece as well). I was wondering if anybody could give me an example of what types of names are currently popular in Germany? Are they great-grandmother/great-grandfather names as in the US? Or if anyone could give a few examples of what using Liesl would be comparable to using here in the US? I’m 35, and my grandmothers were Sue and Ruth, my husband, who is the same age, had a Ruth and an Edith. My cousin has and Ethel. So, is Liesl comparable to that? Names that my be close to coming back around, but just haven’t had quite enough time yet?
Thanks so much for any answers, this is super interesting to me.
I have recent experience in a German speaking European country, and know some babies/kids there. It seems like the most stylish names are vintage-ish feeling, but more in the “international, previously underused classics” category. So, names like Leonie (very pan-European), Emma, Lea/Lia, Mia, Sophia/Sofia/Sophie, Viktoria, Clara/Klara, Hanna. For boys: Max, Leon, Ben, Finn, Noah, Jakob, Felix, Daniel.
Older Germanic-sounding names like Hannelore, Ulrike, Hildegarde, Hilde, Heidi, Erika, and their male equivalents in style have unfortunate associations with backwards/Nazi era fashion (from what I understand). They’re just not seen as cool. Though, I do know a very stylish couple with a baby Ludwig! So maybe those names are on the verge again.
Oh, but to more specifically address the grandma equivalents– I think it’s hard to make an equivalent, because there’s no set of generational names in the US that have unsavory associations with a terrible, genocidal political era. I think the amount of time names like Liesel, Helga, and Erika will need to come back in Germany can’t be judged by American standards. And they may never come back. Unlike Mildred or Ethel here, they’re loaded in ways beyond just not seeming fresh.
Thanks for pointing this out, I hadn’t considered this aspect of generational weight. I guess I had thought that specific names that were associated with particularly negative individuals would be undesirable, but not a complete set of names from that time period.
Super interesting.
Swistle, what we need is a name podcast. Because there’s lots of money in that and you have so much free time as it is. Maybe there’s already some out there? Has anybody listened to any?
I love old old school German names! I can find many combing through my mother’s family tree – Dorothea, Wilhelmina, Fritz, lots of Carls, lots of Adolphs (maybe I don’t love that one). O/t: is Hortense a classic German name?
I can certainly sympathize with Liesl being out of style in Germany though! I am Greek American and love names ending in -anthe. My aunt is Rodanthe and I wanted to use it as a middle, but my husband grew up in Greece and vetoed all -anthe names as “old lady names”. Latinate style names are in style in Greece right now (as they are in much of the world, I suppose).
I guess my vote would be to use an Elizabeth varient on the BC and use Liesl as a nickname.
As I was scrolling down to comment I saw that many others already shared my thoughts:
– I voted would consider it because I love it for someone else’s baby but can’t imagine it on my own
– If I were to use it, I would go with Annaliese nn Liesl. I think it could be hard to get the nn to stick with Elizabeth as she gets older with so many other common nns to choose from. Also, I adore Annaliese.
– I know someone with a daughter Liesel. His other two children have names that are trending up but not top 10,
– I pronounce it somewhere between rhyming with weasel and rhyming with Michelle. Like lease-uhl, or Lysol with an ee instead of the y.
I like the name! I know an adult with the name and it’s lovely. I think it would be super cute on a little girl. I lived in Germany after university for a few years and talked German names with a friend. I loved this name and he always called it a Grandma name. Turned out I liked mostly German grandma and grandpa names.
My cousin (now in her late 40s) is Liesel. My aunt and uncle are huge Sound of Music fans. I believe they added the second “E” to Americanize it. We’ve always pronounced it with an “s” sound instead of the “z” sound in diesel. So to me it always seemed like a dressed up version of Lisa, and I love it. My cousin is also someone I have always looked up to and wanted to be just like, so I definitely considered it when naming my daughters but didn’t like it with our “L” last name. A girl I went to high school with named her daughter Liesl, and it delights me to hear people using it!
I always thought it was a beautiful name and I think all of the concerns listed here (what rhymes with it, what else the spelling looks like) are silly compared to some other names that are more popular. I grew up knowing a Liesl, and also two Anneleises, so the sound just isn’t that strange to me. The Liesl I knew even had a Germanic last name, but it didn’t seem too overwhelming.
I have an Elise, who often goes by Lisi and sometimes Lisi turns into Liesl as I play with her name… for me it’s a very strong connection to the musical I’ve loved all my life, and I get a warm glow saying the name and thinking of the beloved character. Still, I like it much better as a nickname than as an actual name. But that’s my naming style–I chose “all-purpose” names for my kids–nothing too fussy or difficult to spell. Many parents would find my kids names a bore, and Liesl would be perfect for them –in fact, a Liesl would be right at home in my daughter’s preschool class with Paz and Saoirse and Ilyusha–European names with tricky spellings seem to be a stylish choice these days!
Also, I pronounce Liesl with a strong “s” sound, not a “z”. The same with another Sound of Music name, Louisa. I don’t even know the correct German or Austrian pronunciation, but to me the “z” pronunciation sounds unpleasantly American and “weasel-y” while the “s” sound avoids that and gives it that pleasant foreign-ness that has me daydreaming of the snow-covered alps…
This was a favorite childhood name of mine…probably because of the Sound of Music character, though I also have a vague memory of it appearing in another book or film. I also loved Anneliese (which I learned about because it was Anne Frank’s full given name).
I *still* think it is a great name but I wouldn’t use it on a person born now for various reasons:
1.) Hard to spell and pronounce.
2.) Rhymes with weasel and diesel
3.) Can easily be misread as “Lies!” (Note: this can be fixed by spelling it Liesel.)
4.) I don’t have German heritage
5.) …and, even if I did have German heritage, from what I understand Liesl is decidedly OUT OF STYLE in Germany and other German-speaking countries, and out in a big way. (I’ve spent a lot of time in a German-speaking country.) It’s a bit like Ethel or Wanda or maybe Hattie; but very Germanic-sounding old fashioned names aren’t coming back there like they are here, for historical reasons (associations with WW2 period, when they were last fashionable).
That said, if Liesl or Liesel were a family name, it would override all of the above & I’d likely use it. I still think it’s a sweet name!
I’m finding this whole thing super interesting, thank you for the examples and information.
I’m in the “it’s lovely, but not my style” category. It’s too Germanic for me, I tend toward Celtic or Latinate names.
I’ve said this before, but there is such a diversity of names these days that I don’t hear any name-teasing on the playground these days. Which is not to say that snotty little kids don’t come up with other ways to be snots, but that names don’t seem to be targets anymore. So I wouldn’t worry about the rhyme thing, myself. The Lies! Might be more of an issue, at dr.s offices, etc, but whatever. Lots of names need a little help at first glance. I went for years being unsure how to say Aidan Quinn’s name, and look at all of us now. It’s just too Germanic.
Actually, Swistle, I keep thinking that would be a good discussion topic – what names do you love that are too far out of your cultural comfort zone to use? I’m Mexican-American; I’d have been fine with an Antonio or Diego. Keiko, Bjorn, and Giancarlo all mahe me swoon, but I couldn’t use ever use them. Love to see what others might think.
Loved your comment. This is an interesting thread. My sister is pregnant with her seventh baby and is trying to decide spelling on this baby’s name. All her other kids have a Latino/a spelling, but this last name looks very, very foreign by comparison to her other kids. For reference, my sister is a blonde white Canadian, and her husband is Colombian. The kids look very white. Their names are Ana, Elena, Isabel, Sebastian, Nicolas, and Jubal. The baby will be either Efraim (the lead spelling currently) or Ephraim. I would normally say, have the spellings match! But, in this case, I find that the Efraim spelling just feels too different. It is weird to find out where your own boundaries are.
I like it, but didn’t consider it or Lisa or Eliza because I’m an Elizabeth and thought it was too close.
Is the style of names in Germany really relevant to a name given to an American child? Even if she was to visit Germany, it would be clear she wasn’t German. If my Oskar (spelled the German way to honor our German heritage) went to Germany, it would be pretty clear from the flaming orange hair that he wasn’t German. If that didn’t give him away, his native language/accent would.
Toddler at daycare named Liesel. Struck me as pretty & unusual but familiar (sound of music). So I’m a fan after seeing it on a real kid, not a hypothetical, if that makes sense.