Gretchen

Gender	Female
Language(s)	German
Region of origin	United States, Germany
Variant form(s)	Greta, Grete, Margaret
Derived	A major character in Goethe's Faust

Gretchen (German pronunciation: [ˈɡʀeːtçən]; English pronunciation: /ˈɡrɛtʃən/) is a female given name of German origin that is mainly prevalent in the United States. It is a pet form of the German name Margarete.

Its popularity increased due to a major character in Goethe's Faust (around the year 1800) having this name. In German, the Gretchenfrage (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 questionee. The question is usually inconvenient to the questionee 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 a usual given name, and as a pet form it is almost out of use today, esp. because in the past century the name Margarete or its short form Grete has fallen out of fashion and is very rarely given to newborns.

However, mainly in the United States the name Gretchen remains very popular and nostalgic.

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