“What’s in a name?"

"That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet"

Sorry, lots of text this time, but worthwhile reading, I think. I had fun writing it.

I picked Franziska as my femme name – and had it approved by my wife – some 10 years or so back. Why did I pick this name – because I think it is great and it felt right. Period.

Having done some research (you remember that I am an engineer and scientist) on the name “Franziska” for this blog posting, I found out the following interesting facts, many of which confirm that I picked the right name.

The German women’s first names “Franziska” and “Franka” both derive from “Franziskus,” the German version of the Latin “Francesco.” “Francesco,” in turn originated from the Old High German name “Franko,” which derives from the Germanic major tribe of the “Franken,” which formed in the third century A.D. under Roman rule in the very area of nowadays north-western Germany where I was born and raised. Just to give you an idea, at its peak around 800 A.D., the Franken empire covered all of Germany, all of France, all of Austria and Switzerland, all of Benelux, major parts of Italy, including Rome, and small parts of Spain and Poland.

The German root “Franka” means brave, courageous, and bold, as well as free, which were the attributes associated with the tribe of the “Franken.” What does a crossdresser do: s/he ventures out into the world using a gender presentation contradicting that of his sex and possibly that of his gender identity, in order to gain freedoms, largely inaccessible to his/her male gender presentation. This is what I would call brave, courageous, and bold.

Popular German diminutives of “Franziska” are Franzi, Franzy, Fränzi, Fränzle, Franni, Ziska, Zissa, and Zissi 😀😀😀.

In other languages, “Franziska” is known e.g. as Frances, Francene, Francine, Fanni, Françoise, Fanny, Francette, Frañseza, Franca, Francesca, Františka, Frančiška, and Francka.

One more anecdote, before I stop this nuisance. “Franziskaner” is also the name of a brewery – many of you will be familiar with – founded in 1363 in a suburb of Munich, right across from a local Franciscan monastery. The order of the Franciscans was founded by Franciscus de Assisio (Francis of Assisi) in 1215. And Franziska loves this beer.

Poor weather in the second half of November 2022 and not really a clue what to do with herself that day, Franziska took the train to Darmstadt, a city of some 160.000 inhabitants about 40 km to the south of Frankfurt.

Portrait of the day

I love this sand color heavy wool winter coat, which I was able to wear for the first time that day. Shopping is always an option and largely independent of weather. I bought some brown leather gloves, matching the boots, but unfortunately, was not able to find a matching scarf and bonnet. That has yet to come – this winter, I guess.

“Chick flick,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a slang term, sometimes used pejoratively, for the film genre catered specifically to women's interest. They generally tend to appeal more to a younger female audience and deal mainly with love and romance.

To kill some time in the rainy and cold afternoon, Franziska went to the movies to see “Einfach mal was Schönes,” a 2022 German "chick flick" about a 40-year-old radio presenter, who wishes to have a baby, but is missing a partner. It wasn’t what I would call premium cinematics, but it was entertaining, while providing a warm and dry environment for two hours.

“Henninger Turm,” a tall white silo of 120 m, belonging to the Henninger beer brewery was one of the landmarks of Frankfurt. This tower, located south of the river “Main” and, hence, across from the financial district, was replaced by a 140 m tall residential sort of skyscraper, finished in 2017 and somewhat resembling the old tower.

Courtesy of Wikipedia https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henninger-Turm

The 39^th floor of the new tower houses a restaurant – opened in 2018 and called – you may have guessed it: “Franziska.” The restaurant, apparently named after the aunt of the owner, provides “Progressive German Vintage Cuisine” (for whatever that means).

You need not to be particularly smart, to conclude that this place would have had to come up on Franziska’s bucket list sooner or later.

Outside the building “New Henninger Turm” at the separate entrance to the restaurant.

The restaurant provides a spectacular view of the entire Frankfurt area – one highlight – and it offers a so-called Chef’s table, which means a bar, where you sit on a bar stool to eat, and where you have a full view into the open kitchen – second highlight.

It was a fun evening with great food in a very lively place. The service was very attentive, and I got to talk to my bar neighbors, a couple from Brazil visiting Frankfurt. I have no clue if they understood that I was crossdressed. For all I know, they might have simply expected German women to be tall and to have dark voices. They were very surprised (jaws dropped), though, to hear that I am engineer and had been in Brazil numerous times on business – an expectable preconception, I guess. I hope they now think that German engineers are not only smart but also good looking.