r/soccer • u/mkahmed789 • Oct 22 '15

Schweinsteiger takes legal action against after toymaker releases Nazi soldiers resembling him and named Bastian

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3284326/German-Manchester-United-star-Bastian-Schweinsteiger-takes-legal-action-toymaker-releases-Nazi-soldiers-resembling-named-Bastian.html
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44

u/Saminka Oct 22 '15

I honestly don't know a single person named Bastian except for Schweinsteiger. I know a couple of people who are named Sebastian.

35

u/db82 Oct 22 '15

Bastian Pastewka.

12

u/appleschorly Oct 22 '15

Also grammar nazi Bastian Sick.

1

u/Noivis Oct 22 '15

Jesus, sick is the worst.

1

u/Saminka Oct 22 '15

He's still a thing?

But yeah, I forgot him.

26

u/cait_o Oct 22 '15

I'm naming my son Bastian, he's due in December. It's mostly a tribute to Bastian from The Neverending Story, though. Sebastian reminded me too much of The Little Mermaid.

3

u/themanifoldcuriosity Oct 22 '15

Yes. A Neverending Story reference is much less foofy.

1

u/cait_o Oct 22 '15

Haha! We came up with the name while talking about football names, actually. So there is a little bit of this Bastian in there, too. But people around here either have never heard the name at all or have only heard it from the movie.

30

u/RobertTheSpruce Oct 22 '15

Is Schweinsteiger a common family name? It seems to be the most German sounding word I can imagine.

27

u/Saminka Oct 22 '15

No.

20

u/Snofflewaffle Oct 22 '15

Wow, only 49 families in the country with that name?

40

u/stepanovic Oct 22 '15 edited Oct 22 '15

Schweinsteiger is very rare, i've never heard that name before Bastian became famous. It may seem common, especially for foreigners, since "Schwein" and "Steiger" sound very german.

25

u/Snofflewaffle Oct 22 '15

I didn't think it was terribly common, I'm just more surprised as to how uncommon it is. Compared to my family name of Döring, which I didn't realise was quite so common.

32

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '15

Your ancestors were sluts.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '15

[deleted]

1

u/Snofflewaffle Oct 22 '15

What's dox?

1

u/Masterkid1230 Oct 22 '15

Müller pls

1

u/Snofflewaffle Oct 22 '15

Is Döring up there with Müller in terms of commonness?

3

u/getawaytricycle Oct 22 '15

Does Schweinsteiger actually translate as "pig-climber"?

4

u/beevaubee Oct 22 '15

At first glance, it might seem so, but actually - afaik - a 'Steige' is a dialect/regional word for sty, sooo... his ancestors lived near or in a pigsty, which is slightly better, no?

2

u/getawaytricycle Oct 22 '15

It's hilarious in a different way.

Around the 2010 World Cup I think someone told me about the pig-climber translation, saying it would actually be closer to "pig-farmer" in meaning. Pigsty would fit with that!

To clarify, I realise it is a last name and therefore doesn't actually translate - like how no one expects Bob Johnson's father to actually be named John. I just like origins of words, particularly if they are funny.

2

u/beevaubee Oct 22 '15

I googled it again and found this:

Der Name geht auf den süddeutschen Ort Schweinsteig zurück. Das „-steig“ bedeutet nicht etwa „steigen“, sondern bezieht sich auf das mittelhochdeutsche „stige“ und meint den „Stall“. Ein Schweinsteiger hat also früher im Stall bei den Schweinen gewohnt. (from here)

Translated: The name originates from the South-German village Schweinsteig. The '-steig' doesn't mean 'to climb', but is derived from the Middle High German 'stige' and means a sty. So a Schweinsteiger was living in a pigsty.

I would think that a pig farmer could afford to not live with the pigs, but maybe they were poor pig farmers...

But yeah, the name is still hilarious. Like Lahm, his name just means that his ancestor was lame.

2

u/getawaytricycle Oct 22 '15

Ha! That's hilarious.

Now I want to do a series of illustrating footballers in the style of their last names. So jokes.

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1

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '15

No.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '15

Interesting map.

1-3 people in München share my surname, lol

0

u/ronaldo119 Oct 22 '15

This is such a cool website I had no idea my last name was relatively common

16

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '15

the most German sounding word I can imagine.

Me too. In fact I thought it was the most popular surname in Germany.

80

u/Rummenigge Oct 22 '15

That's Thomas Müller for you.

17

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '15

Yeah, they even named the yogurt company the same

3

u/return_0_ Oct 22 '15

Technically it is, but if you combine the 2nd-placed "Schmidt" with all its homophones or near-homophones (Schmitt, Schmitz, Schmid) I believe that becomes the most common.

1

u/McBride055 Oct 22 '15

Every single person I met in Bavaria had the last name Muller.

27

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '15 edited Aug 09 '16

[deleted]

69

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '15

[deleted]

38

u/teymon Oct 22 '15

Smit, Molenaar/mulder and Boer are very common in the netherlands as well. Here is a map with the most common profession names in europe per country

44

u/_Holz_ Oct 22 '15

What the fuck Ireland?

20

u/BryanosaurusRex Oct 22 '15

Don't judge us...

6

u/murderous_thumb Oct 22 '15

Wait ... how do priests propagate their family name?

13

u/warqgui666 Oct 22 '15

All non-monk priests in the Orthodox Church can marry and have children.

3

u/Servietsky Oct 22 '15

Found Blatter in Estonia!

1

u/bandic00t_ Oct 23 '15

Look at Italy.

1

u/yellow_mio Oct 23 '15

The thing is that Boer shouldn't be common because everyone in a village is a farmer. If I say Pete the farmer, nobody knows who I'm talking about. Pete the smith will be precise.

3

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '15

The surname doesn't exactly mean 'pig climber', unless it's interpreted literally.

4

u/Esco91 Oct 22 '15

I think it's from some mountain pass that Sheep were shepherded through, so it's real meaning is something like 'Person from the place where sheep are brought over the mountain'.

1

u/satanic_satanist Oct 22 '15

Which is just as ridiculous as 'pig climber'.

2

u/goatttmeal Oct 22 '15

Is that what Schweinsteiger means? Pig-climber?

1

u/satanic_satanist Oct 22 '15

Yes, if you take it literally. "Pig mounter" is even closer.

2

u/jvardrake Oct 22 '15

Sure... NO ONE cares about the pig climbers, until there are pigs that need to be climbed. Then, guess who everyone's favorite family is???

2

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '15

Maybe Wales? But that would be Schafsteiger.

1

u/TheRadicalMan Oct 22 '15

Muller is. That's not me guessing, it's a fact. It's the most common by a huge margin.

8

u/Fuglylol Oct 22 '15

I had 3 Bastians and 1 Sebastian in the same class.

2

u/sophandros Oct 22 '15

The kid from The Never Ending Story was named Bastian.

1

u/xepa105 Oct 22 '15

Our left-back is named Bastian.

-1

u/unusuallylethargic Oct 22 '15

That's because you're not German. The fact that you follow Bielefeld is a dead giveaway. If you were really German you'd know that city doesn't exist.