What's in a Name?

I love old pictures ... and I especially love old photographs of my ancestors.  Today I came across this picture of my my great-grandparents.  My great-grandfather Gustav was a constable in East Prussia, in a small town called Peitschendorf.  Above is his 2nd wife and 6 of their 9 children.  You can read more about this area and my family's story if you click on this link.

Anyway, I began to think of the names of the people in my German family from generations ago.  My great-grandparents were Gustav and Wilhelmine (Gustav's first wife was named Anna).  They had many children who were half-siblings to my Oma, who was named Hildegard Anna.  These names are just so typical German - and I love the combinations and wonder why each name was chosen:  was it just a name the parents liked?  Was this child named after someone?  Was the name to honor someone famous or from history?!  Here is a list of my Oma's siblings:  

Friedrich-Karl

Ingetraut

Irmtraut

Christel

Günter

Helmut

Heinz-Joachim

Rosemarie

Renate

Ernst-Georg

Below is a photo of my great-grandparents on my Opa's side.  They were "city folks" - living in the city of Frankfurt.  I wish I recognized the bridge behind them in this picture - I really have no idea where this picture was taken.  It almost appears as if the family was on holiday.  

These are my great-grandparents Konrad and Margarethe.  They are with 4 of their 5 daughters; they also had 2 sons (one of which was my Opa, Wilhelm).   Their other children were:

Paul

Elisabeth

Johanna (Hanni)

Helene (Leni)

Maria (Ria)

Margot 

There are so many more beautiful names of people on the German side of the family - my own mother is named Heidelinde (Heidi for short, of course).  What are some of your favorite German names - or what names come to mind when you think of "typical German"?