"MEET THE LONG NAMED GERMAN" - Zoo Weekly
http://www.zooweekly.com.au/funny-stuff/weird-news/mr-ottovordemgentschenfelde-the-longest-named-german-.htmIn case you have difficulty accessing the link:
If you’re anything like us, you abbreviate names out of sheer laziness – ‘K-Rudd’, ‘Breno’, ‘lucky b------‘ er, we mean ‘hef’ etc. Fortunately for us, though, we live in a country where this linguistic sloth is encouraged among ‘Aussies’ but the same can’t be said for the Germans. In particular, a Mr Bernd Ottovordemgentschenfelde who is going into the record books for having the longest name in the country.
The 45-year-old floor tiler from the Rhineland says he has trouble getting his name to fit on official forms, as well as the side of his van.
"It never fits into official forms. Filling out bank slips is a nightmare. Sometimes I have to use short-cuts, especially on credit cards," Ottovordemgentschenfelde said.
His 24-letter surname is enough of a tongue-strain to make anyone refuse to say his name but he sees this as a unique quality.
"It's great. In this way, I'm completely unique. I would never want to be called Krause or Mueller," he said, using common German names.
Introducing himself on the phone is a challenge, he says, but it could have been much worse:
"My father wanted to give me a second first name," he said. "But my mother successfully stopped that!"
His wife Sylvia, 45, and daughter Nadine, 14, have both shortened their last name to Gentschenfelde and simply call him “Otto”.
Judth Schwanke, a name expert from the University of Leipzig in Germany, confirmed he currently has the longest name on record, at 24 letters.
Hefei Expat - China
Author
