Gretchen Explained

Gretchen
Gender:	Female
Region:	Germany
Language:	German
Variant Forms:	Greta, Grete, Margaret, Margarete
Derived:	A major character in Goethe's Faust

Gretchen (pronounced as /de/, ; literal translation: "Little Grete" or "Little Greta") is a female given name of German origin that, stand-alone, is most prevalent in the United States.

Its popularity increased because a major character in Goethe's Faust (1808) has this name. In German, the ("question by Gretchen"), derived from Faust, is an idiom for a direct question that aims at the core of a problem and that should reveal the intentions and mindset of the questioned. The question is usually inconvenient to the questioned since he or she shall confess to something crucial he or she was intentionally or unintentionally vague about before.

In German-speaking countries, Gretchen is not frequent as a stand-alone given name, but as a colloquial diminutive or pet name of Grete (Greta), which itself is a short form of Margarete (Margaret).^[1]

People

• Gretchen (singer) (born 1959), Brazilian singer
• Gretchen Abaniel (born 1985), Filipino professional boxer
• Gretchen Albrecht (born 1943), New Zealand painter
• Gretchen Barretto (born 1970), Filipina actress
• Gretchen Bleiler (born 1981), professional halfpipe snowboarder and pioneer
• Gretchen J. Berg (born 1971), an American TV writer/producer
• Gretchen Brewin (born 1938), Canadian politician
• Gretchen Carlson (born 1966), former Miss America and current TV host
• Gretchen Corbett (born 1947), American actress
• Gretchen Cryer (born 1935), American writer, actress, and lyricist
• Gretchen Driskell (born 1958), American politician, a former member of the Michigan House of Representatives, and candidate for Michigan's 7th congressional district in 2016.
• Gretchen Dutschke-Klotz (born 1942) German-American author and former activist
• Gretchen Dykstra (born 1948), previous President and CEO of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation
• Gretchen Egolf (born 1973), American actress
• Gretchen Franklin (1911–2005), English actress
• Gretchen Fraser (1919–1994), American alpine skier
• Gretchen Fullido (born 1984), Filipina news anchor and model
• Gretchen Gerzina (born 1950), American historian
• Gretchen Gierach (21st century), American epidemiologist
• Gretchen Hofmann (21st century), professor at the University of California
• Gretchen Keppel-Aleks (21st century), an American climate scientist
• Gretchen Kirby (21st century), American educator
• Gretchen Lieberum (21st century), American singer
• Gretchen Magers (born 1964), a former professional tennis player
• Gretchen Malalad (born 1980), Filipina 2005 Southeast Asian Games karate gold medalist
• Gretchen Massey (born 1969), radio host and performer
• Gretchen McCulloch, Canadian linguist
• Gretchen Merrill (1925–1965), American figure skater
• Gretchen Mol (born 1972), American actress
• Gretchen Morgenson (born 1956), Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
• Gretchen Oehler (1943–2001), American actress
• Gretchen Osgood Warren (1868–1961), actress, singer, poet, and muse
• Gretchen Parlato (born 1976), American jazz singer
• Gretchen Passantino (1953–2014), Christian apologist
• Gretchen Peters (born 1957), American country singer
• Gretchen Phillips (born 1963), American musician
• Gretchen Polhemus (born 1965), the 38th Miss USA
• Gretchen Quintana (born 1984), Cuban heptathlete
• Gretchen Rau (1939–2006), professional property master, set decorator, and art director
• Gretchen Ritter (21st century), American academic administrator
• Gretchen Rubin (born 1965), American author and attorney
• Gretchen Ulion (born 1972), American ice hockey player
• Gretchen Walsh (born 2003), American swimmer
• Gretchen Whitmer (born 1971), 49th Governor of Michigan and former Michigan State Senator
• Gretchen Wilson (born 1973), Grammy award-winning American country music singer-songwriter
• Gretchen Wyler (1932–2007), American actress

Fictional characters

• Gretchen, a fictional character played by Yvonne Mai in the 2019 film The Last Faust
• Gretchen, a fictional character from
• Gretchen Morgan, fictional character from Prison Break
• Gretchen Berg, fictional character from Heroes
• Gretchen, a fictional character played by Eden Sher in Weeds
• Gretchen Cutler, a fictional character from You're the Worst
• Gretchen Ross, a fictional character from Donnie Darko
• Gretchen Witter, a fictional character from Dawson's Creek
• Gretchen, a fictional character from Phineas and Ferb
• Gretchen Grundler, one of six main characters in Recess
• Gretchen Schwartz, fictional character played by Jessica Hecht in Breaking Bad
• Gretchen Wieners, a fictional character played by Lacey Chabert in Mean Girls
• Gretchen, a fictional character from Invader Zim
• Gretchen Mannkusser, fictional character from Malcolm in the Middle
• Gretchen, a fictional character from Donald Fagen's song: The Goodbye Look, on his album The Nightfly
• Gretchen, a fictional character from Camp Lazlo
• Gretchen, a fictional character from Camp Lakebottom
• Gretchen Grimlock, the antagonist in Cryptids Island on the online game Poptropica.
• Kriemhild Gretchen, the witch form of Madoka Kaname, a fictional character from Puella Magi Madoka Magica
• Gretchen Bodinski, a fictional character from Suits
• Greedy Gretchen, a character who appeared in episodes of the TV sitcoms Three's Company and Three's a Crowd
• Gretchen, a character in James A. Michener's novel The Drifters
• Gretchen, a character in George Tabori's farce stage-adaptation of Hitler's Mein Kampf
• Gretchen, a fictional character from Zombillenium
• Gretchen Klein, a character in The Wilds (TV series)
• Gretchen Nunn, a character in Golem¹⁰⁰ by Alfred Bester

Fictional creatures

• Gretchen, a fictional dog in Dark (TV series)

References

1. http://www.beliebte-vornamen.de/5406-margarethe.htm Statistics about how common the name Margarete is in Germany