Kinderzeitschriftennamen in Deutschland im Jahr 2025 – Eine linguistisch-onomastische Analyse

Abstract

This study investigates the onymic profile of 114 children’s magazine names distributed in Germany in 2025. They are classified as ergonyms and described as brand names in a broader onomastic sense. The study focuses on the linguistic and non-linguistic means through which the dual addressee orientation towards children and adults is expressed. The corpus is initially divided into single-word and multi-word names; the latter comprise regular syntagmatic constructions, juxtapositions, sentence-like names, and multi-level title configurations. The analysis reveals a clear preference for structural condensation. With 45 out of 114 instances, juxtapositions constitute the largest structural category and frequently display modular naming patterns combining established brand or character names with specifying elements. Name transfer provides links to existing knowledge and associations. Sentence-like names can stylize features of conceptual orality, while English-language elements may function as markers of internationality and modernity. In multi-level title configurations, topographic, typographic, and colour-related design features perform structuring and hierarchical functions. Overall, children’s magazine names emerge as formally and semantically condensed onymic units in which linguistic structures and non-linguistic visual
design features can interact to create a communicative orientation towards both children and adults.