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Comments and insights on the name Jaeger: | Edit

We gave our son the name Jaeger because it was a unique way to name him Hunter. Jaeger is the German word for hunter (if you can't/don't want to use an 'a'-with-umlaut).

It is also an English word for a type of sea bird (also called a skua).

In German, the 'j' is, of course, pronounced like the English 'y' and the 'ae' combination (or 'a'-with-umlaut) would be pronounced a bit like the English short-e sound. So the German Jaeger would sound a bit like 'yegger' in English. The English word jaeger is pronounced with the German-j/English-y sound, with a long-a vowel sound following it: 'yay-ger'.

Personal experiences with the name Jaeger: | Edit

I don't think we've ever answered the question "What is your son's name?" without having to answer one or more followup questions, the most popular of which is simply, "What?!?"

We are also asked frequently how the name should be pronounced. When we gave this name to our son, we specified that it would be legitimately pronounced in one of several different ways. Sometimes we say it like the Germans would: "YEH-ger". Sometimes we (especially my wife and our extended families) pronounce it in a very Americanized way, such as "JAY-ger". Perhaps most frequently we split the difference and say, "YAY-ger". We don't mind hearing any of these variants and, as I mentioned, we predetermined there would be no one correct way to say it. It is, however, slightly annoying to hear his name pronounced "jagger", which is irritatingly frequent.

At the same time, no one should give their child an unusual name if they are going to be overly sensitive to strange pronunciations, odd misspellings, and inquisitive looks or questions from people when they hear the name for the first time. So we try to roll with the punches as I'm sure our son will soon learn to do as he grows up with a fairly unique name.

One humorous way we have developed to help people remember and pronounce his name is this. My wife, Jaeger's mother, is one of these constantly-cheery sorts of people; I, his father, am more of the stereotypical 'grumpy old man' (or at least I like to pretend to be). So we tell people, "Mom is a 'YAY!'-kind of person, and Dad is sort of a 'Grr!'-type of guy. So Jaeger is a combination of the two: "Yay!-Grr!" :)

Nicknames for Jaeger: | Edit

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Meanings and history of the name Jaeger: | Edit

According to the American Heritage Dictionary (via TFD.com), Jaeger has two English meanings:
1. Any of several Arctic and Boreal sea birds of the genus Stercorarius that harass smaller birds and snatch the food they drop. Also called skua.
2. A huntsman or hunting attendant.

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