03 April 2008

Die Gretchenfrage: UPDATE

It is a badly kept secret that my first name is Gretchen.

I'm letting the secret completely out in order to ask a question.

Could someone please tell me why I receive so many letters addressed to Herr Gretchen LastName?

I'm pretty certain that Gretchen is only a girl's name. I have never met a man named Gretchen. And it shouldn't be a cultural confusion thing because Gretchen is Germanic. Indeed, Gretchen is a prominent character in Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the pre-eminent work by one of the most important German writers in history.

So what am I missing? Why do so many people think that someone named Gretchen should be addressed as Herr?


UPDATE 8 APRIL 2008

My German teacher came up with the most logical theory. Apparently our last name is confusing to some German speakers who assume it to be a man's first name. So they wonder if Gretchen might be my last name.

Nope, not going to post the last name. Enough disclosure.

8 comments:

Kirk said...

Maybe they're confused because in Switzerland you should be "Gretli"? Otherwise I'm afraid I'll have to leave it to my wife to tell you if she had similar problems...

rswb said...

I get that allllllll the time. Not so odd in my case since "Robin" is a boys' name here. My least favourite incident of being assumed to be a man was when I emailed the Swiss consulate in Australia about some details about marrying my boyfriend in Australia and both of us changing our surnames, and they replied to Dear Mr BlahBlah. Yes, yes, Robin as a boys' name, but a) not so much in Australia (I have never met a man called Robin), b) that's not how you spell my name anyway; I spell my name in the way that I always thought was regonised as the feminine spelling, c)yes, I could be a man intending to marry my boyfriend and that's fine but it's not actually legal in Australia (which you would hope a consulate would tell you if they thought it was relevant) and d)I'm not a man. Aagh!

Anonymous said...

My German husband said, "Was?!!?", when I told him, so I am guessing he would never address a Gretchen (Grate-chhhen) with "Mr". He also thinks the way we pronounce it is funny.

Marcy said...

Hubby kept getting letters from the language school where we took classes, addressed to Mrs Zach Lastname.

Global Librarian said...

The latest letter came from someone from the Italian area of Switzerland.

But I have received them from people with obvious German names.

It's very, very weird.

Gretchen said...

As a fellow Gretchen, I can say I never had this problem (during my time in Switzerland). But I definitely had lots of people laugh at the way we pronounce it as one of your anonymous commenters mentioned!

Pointless Drivel said...

That still doesn't make sense. Not with a last name like Sylvia.

Princess Cat's Pajamas said...

I just got a letter from Brussels Airlines addressed to "Mr. Kitty Lastname"... I've never heard of a man called Kitty before!