German as a language specializes in absurdly comical names. Some Romance names may provoke a grin, but Italian over-flamboyance and Spanish goofiness are nothing compared to the German monopoly on the denominatively ludicrous.
Take, zum Beispiel, a glorious reference buried on page 134 of Princeton's Drawings from the Holy Roman Empire 1540-1680, to a certain Baron Ferdinand Hoffman von Grünpichl und Strechau. Besides providing sorely needed respite from a succession of unimaginatively named artists, the good baron provides a good laugh by virtue of his apparent place of origin: Grünpichl. I don't know about you, but that immediately puts me in mind of Greenpickle and, well, that's good enough for me.
Of course I'm still working on the actual etymology of Grünpichl. Duden.de defines picheln as "(in kleiner Runde) über längere Zeit Alkohol trinken," which I find amusing. Of course a pre-16th century place name probably has a very different origin.
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