Germany's Most Complicated City Names
Windischeschenbach. Bad Gottleuba-Berggießhübel. Groitzsch. Some German city almost ties the reader's tongue. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the spelling reform, the travel experts from Travelcircus set out to find the most complicated city names in Germany.
Key Takeaways
- In Germany, there are a total of 2,058 cities (as of July 2018)
- A city can call itself a city in Germany if it has more than 2,000 inhabitants, though exceptions confirm the rule
- No city from Hesse has made it into the Top 100 of the most complicated city names
- Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia are the federal states with the highest number of complicated city names in the Top 100
- Cities in Saxony are unbeatable in terms of the number of letters per syllable
Germany's City Names Under Review
To determine the most complicated city names in Germany, Travelcircus took a close look at all 2,058 cities and examined the 100 most difficult names based on five criteria.*
*Note: To avoid duplicates, cities in the Top 5 ranking were sometimes omitted if they had the same score as another city in the respective category.
The Categories
Category 1: Number of Letters per Syllable
In the German language, a syllable averages four letters. Travelcircus has discovered that the most complicated city name in this category has nine letters in a single syllable. This is more than double the average.
Category 2: Highest Number of Consecutive Consonants
In the German language, the highest number of possible consecutive consonants is eight. With the exception of one word (borscht, a Russian soup), all words with this number of consonants are compound. In Travelcircus's ranking, there are at least six consonants in a row in first place.
Category 3: Consonants per Vowel
On average, the ratio of vowel to consonant in the German language is 1:1.5. So for one vowel, there are approximately 1.5 consonants. The most complicated city name in this category has an incredible seven consonants for one vowel.
Category 4: Hidden Letters
The most common 'hidden' or silent letter in the German language is the H. It usually appears after long spoken vowels. Of course, some of them hide in a city name, but in the Top 10 ranking, Ys and Ts are mainly hidden behind Ds.
Category 5: Personal Highlights of the Travelcircus Editorial Team
It doesn't always have to do with the rules of the German language when readers and writers struggle with certain words. Therefore, Travelcircus has highlighted the personal favorites of the editorial team.