Ashantara.8731 Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 Playing through the Orr storyline once more and still being majorly amused by "Havroun Gre(t)chen". Just a quick explanation for ANet: Gretchen is the German diminutive of Grete, which is the diminutive of Margarete. Grete is used as a diminutive for grownups, while the diminutive of the diminutive, Gretchen, is only used for little girls. So, seeing a tall, strong norn woman being addressed as "Gretchen" is giving me the giggles - every time. 😂 2 3 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Korag.8439 Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 This is likely just a conclusion. They probably just thought this specific combination of letters sounds nornish enough. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batel.9206 Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 Um...yeah, Gretchen has been used as a name in America for decades. It's never been all that popular, but it is absolutely a valid name here. And ArenaNet has made slip-ups with names before. 🤷♀️ Some sylvari women have strictly masculine names (Diarmid comes to mind, though that's a roughly Anglicized spelling), and vice versa. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ariurotl.3718 Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 But there is no such connotation among the Norn in Tyria, which is not the real world. There, I fixed it! 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farohna.6247 Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 Influence of German immigrants and also from Goethe's play Faust, and it caught on. I feel like it's more of a name use in literature and movies...guess writers like how it sounds. Can not say I have ever met one and have not heard of an uptick in babies named that lol. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashantara.8731 Posted November 5 Author Share Posted November 5 32 minutes ago, Farohna.6247 said: Influence of German immigrants and also from Goethe's play Faust, and it caught on. Well, the pronunciation in German is certainly not how it was adapted into English. But more importantly: Faust's Gretchen's name is indeed Margarete, and the diminutive is being used because women in literature of that time definitely were regarded as weak and co-dependent, mostly plot devices. Not a good namesake there for a proud norn. 😄 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farohna.6247 Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 7 minutes ago, Ashantara.8731 said: Well, the pronunciation in German is certainly not how it was adapted into English. But more importantly: Faust's Gretchen's name is indeed Margarete, and the diminutive is being used because women in literature of that time definitely were regarded as weak and co-dependent, mostly plot devices. Not a good namesake there for a proud norn. 😄 Names tend to get Anglicized or Americanized lol. I agree it's not a great namesake, no clue why one would choose it. I don't think they really put that much thought into it ..maybe it's after someone they know and just like it. It doesn't have that much of cute factor to an English speaker, although some names do from childhood to adulthood, and I appreciate your explanation 💜 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inculpatus cedo.9234 Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 My Aunt's granddaughter's name is Gretchen. Her sister's name is Lauren, and I can't remember the third sister's name (another x..en, I believe). Born in the fifties. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandala.8507 Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 I've known plenty of Gretchens. It's not a childish name or a nickname for anything in America. Anet is an American studio, and the Norn are not real, so that is why she has that name. Don't overthink it. 2 4 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peregrine Falcon.5496 Posted November 6 Share Posted November 6 Gretchen has been a woman's name in English, and in Old English before that, since Germanic people settled Britain around 1,500 years ago. So yes, it originally came from German, but it's been a name in the English language for over a thousand years. In English it is not a diminutive for Margaret and Americans don't know that it ever was. It hasn't really been popular for about 150 years and it sounds exotic to Americans, which is probably why the devs decided to use it as a name for a Norn woman. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashantara.8731 Posted November 6 Author Share Posted November 6 (edited) 14 hours ago, Peregrine Falcon.5496 said: Gretchen has been a woman's name in English, and in Old English before that, since Germanic people settled Britain around 1,500 years ago. So yes, it originally came from German, but it's been a name in the English language for over a thousand years. In English it is not a diminutive for Margaret and Americans don't know that it ever was. It hasn't really been popular for about 150 years and it sounds exotic to Americans, which is probably why the devs decided to use it as a name for a Norn woman. Ahh, that's interesting! Thanks for sharing the knowledge. 🙂 Edited November 6 by Ashantara.8731 3 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ugrakarma.9416 Posted November 8 Share Posted November 8 theres a subcelebrity in Brazil with that name... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpBxZzJDDE4 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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