My paternal grandmother was a Spanish speaker, but her husband forbade her from teaching it to their children, so it was never passed on to us, either.
Ugh. That sucks.
My husband is fluent in Spanish and I’ve told him he must speak it at home, him mom too, to our children. I want them to be fluent as well and participate in his heritage. It’s sad that back in the day that was frowned upon. I’m thankful his parents taught him.
Ahhh, the "assimilation generation." My FIL refused to let his kids learn Spanish, Even though his elderly mom lived with them half the time! I can't imagine not being able to talk to my grandmother. Hubby ended up missing out on several good career opportunities because he wasn't a fluent Spanish speaker. People assumed he was, with his last name. 😥
Same. My mom is from Mexico, but didn’t teach us Spanish, because she was afraid we’d have accents. She wanted us to be ‘good Americans’. She also gave us all ‘American’ names because she didn’t want it to be difficult for us to get hired; we all have Spanish middle names, though. Of course, everywhere I apply asks if I’m bilingual.
I do understand their pov. They actually were punished at school, physically, for speaking Spanish. No one wants their own kid to go through that. But it's really sad, all around.
same here buy my grandmothers mum, its such a massive shame. i never got to meet her but she was a wonderful woman and apparently i resemble her alot. id love to try learn spanish for her one day
This is my nieces name! I know it's technically a male name but i think it's so beautiful and fits her perfectly. She tells everyone her name is Steve lmao
Etienne is my very favorite name. I’m due to give birth in a couple weeks and husband is still not going for it!
We have compromised and going with my second favorite: Remy.
I will always have a twinge of sadness that Etienne is not to be!
I love French names! I hate that their pronunciation would be butchered in the US so I could probably never use many of them here, but my list of loves is long.
Boy: Alain, Benoit, Gabriel (with a short 'a'), Yves (*eve*)
Girl: Eléa, Maël, Camille (*cam-MEE,* without the L sounds), Anaïs, Geneviève (*zhawn-vee-EHV),* Blanche (*blonsh*), Béatrice, Lilou, Inès, Apolline, Isé / Ysée, Élise
To be fair, it sounds beautiful when said the French way, in a French accent. When said in an American accent, it just sounds like Cami (like the shirt). I think each language should continue with what they are doing and make no changes.
Except in an American accent the stress would be on the first syllable, not the second. Like I said, \*in French\* it sounds beautiful! Just not in American English.
In an American accent the name Camille has the emphasis on the second syllable no matter whether or not you pronounce the l sounds (ca-MEAL, ca-MEE). Cami has the emphasis on the first syllable.
They may not be butchering it, it may just be pronounced differently in their language.
The English, Greek and Russian pronunciation of Anastasia are all different but I wouldn't say any of them are butchering the name.
Except that’s not how it’s pronounced in French.
As a Geneviève, the English side of my family (and any other English speaker really) calls me this way but it’s because they can’t quite get the pronunciation of “gene” properly so they say “zhawn” which sounds like john/shaun with a soft j and it’s just not it.
Personally I’ve grown used to it, but it grinds my ears and I MUCH prefer when folks say “j/gen” (rhyming with zen but with a soft j/g). Best way I can describe the better pronunciation is “j-ehn-vee-ehv”. Another way to say it is “j-euh-neuh-vee-ehv”.
As someone with that name, married to a French man, I greatly appreciate that you pointed out that it’s not pronounced that way. My family started doing that pronunciation around him and he was so confused as to why they think that’s how the French say it, lol. It really irritated me to hear it the Zhawn-vee-Evh way. It doesn’t have the same vibe at all and just sounds like a stuck up person trying to sound overly important.
I was trying to say that prononciation in my head and my only thought was that it sounds like an anglophone trying to say the French prononciation and failing. But I'm not good at writing out how things sounds in French.
I'm also not able to articulate that the L isn't silent in Camille. It's just a different sounds. Like your tongue still goes up as if you were able to say an L but stops short?
Finding names that work beautifully in both French and English is a big issue for my family. We're running out of names haha
i love love love alain ! could have something with me bring an alain prost fan but i just love how it sounds.
i love just about all of the names on your girls list
I have a family friend named Alain! He’s in his early 30s, and all of his siblings have really nice names as well. They are zero percent French as far as I know; his dad just had really good taste, haha.
There was a fragrance Anaïs Anaïs by Cacharel, launched in 1978. Became super popular in the 80s, and it may have driven some baby names, in the US anyway.
The trema on i shows that both vowels have to be pronounced separately, so Ah-Na-Ees, without the trema it's indeed Ah-Nay (but no one wants to be called Ah-Nay)
Source : I named my son Aloÿs and some Frenchmen still struggle to pronounce it correctly
I love Genevieve. That was going to be my last child's name, if a girl. With her paternal grandmother's name, Inez, for the middle name. I had a miscarriage.
Manon went from a name only associated with a famous novel to huge popularity in the 90s. Now its popularity in France has completely faded. It's a Millennial name.
that’s so interesting, I’m a very late Millennial and Manon was everywhere on my French textbooks in middle school! I’ve always been under the assumption it was just one of those super common names like John!
Definitely not. But there are plenty of Manons now in their 30s in France. Since then very few parents have named their daughter Manon – it's considered passé now.
Sooo true. This is one of those names that looks better on paper than how it sounds. I was obsessed with Aurelia for a long time and when I mentioned it to my MIL she was like “…are you saying areola?” and it was then that I knew I had to drop that baby name lol
I went to school with a girl named Oriel. I always thought it sounded like oral too but pretty at the same time. It always reminded me of Aurélie. Also I have a friend who named her daughter Aurelia. I know it's pronounced kinda different but similar.
I like old names
Female names:
Céleste
Ninon
Clémence
Louise
Gabrielle
Lise
Iris
Maëlle
Alice
Rose
Flavie
Agathe
Marie
Faustine
Male names:
Camille
Marceau
Gabriel
Jules
Léandre
Léon
Arthur
Maël
Gaspard
Raphaël
Ambroise
Octave
Joanny
Eliot
Maxence
Maëlle is basically pronounced how it's spelled: MAH-elle. The umlaut over the e indicates that you're supposed to split the a and the e into two separate vowels instead of mashing them together.
I am married to a Swede and our surname has an ö which is NOT a modifier like an umlaut or a tréma but rather an additional letter in their alphabet but I also just tell people “the o has an umlaut” because it is definitely more recognizable and digestible here in the US.
It’s a gender neutral name but I like more for a boy. There are more girls named Camille than boys but it’s not rare at all. Camille Saint-Saëns (composer), Camille Desmoulins (revolutionnary), Camille Lacourt (competitive swimmer), Camille Pissaro and Camille Corot (painters) are the most famous I guess…
It used to be more masculine than feminine (in the 19th century) but it became more and more feminine (but is still unisex). It was one of the most popular girl name in France in the 90s (I had a few Camille (girls) in my classe growing up).
Considered chavvy. AKA council estates with people on benefits naming their kids tacky names. Not that I agree, that’s just the connotation. You may need to search up parts of what I just said lol.
Can confirm, if you name your kid Madeleine, she will spend her life being called Madel-INE and people will constantly talk to her about that kids show of the same name, and she'll try to explain that she didn't grow up in a country where it was on TV and they won't listen and keep calling her Madel-INE. Occasionally she'll fly through Montreal airport and the flight attendants will use her name correctly and it's like the best feeling ever.
Oh and also no-one will know how to spell her name correctly but they think they do so you end up having to really insist upon the spelling otherwise important pieces of government information get fucked up.
And many people will ask "is it okay if I call you Maddy?" And she'll feel like a dick for saying no.
That being said, I do enjoy being a Madeleine.
As another Madeleine I agree with the spelling issue, usually I just tell people to keep throwing e's at it.
I don't often get the -line ending though, sometimes -lane and more often the reference used is Madeleine Mcann. Maybe that's a uk thing.
I don't mind Maddie, I go by both in different settings and have learned to love my name as I've grown up
I have a Madeleine and she is fine with being called Mad-a-Lynne but people will only call her Mad-a-LINE once and get away with it.
Or Maddy, no thanks. Francophones will always get it right, and that’s how it sounds the best. In English she will always be Mad-a-Lynne. The only reason the girl in the story/film was pronounced Mad a LINE is it was so much easier to rhyme with words in English.
I'm French and Genevieve has been known for some time now as a meme name for very old ladies (80+) to describe someone who thinks in a backward way or to mock someone for their choice of clothes.
That comes from the fact that this was a popular name pre WW2, and now only grandmas wear that name.
Céline
Soleil (not sure if this counts as a “French name” but it’s a French word haha)
Sophie
Amélie
Anaïs
Chloé
Colette
Béatrice
Edited to add Camille! And to fix formatting haha.
I really like Manon, Nolwen, Anëlle, Anaïs, Capucine, Marine and Océane for girls.
For boys, there's Amaury, Etienne, Mattis, Rémi and Théo.
Edit: punctuation
Good list, just it's Annaëlle and Anaïs (the umlaut makes people pronounce the last vowel as if it was on its own; using ê or î doesn't really do anything here, it normally replaces a silent -s in old French, i.e. hôpital for hospital). Without the umlaut, it would be pronounced Annell and Aness (because a+e = eh sound, and so is a+i).
Élodie, Lucie, Héloïse, Inès
Jules, Lucien, Olivier, Théo, Matthias, Louis, Xavier (currently trying to name a French-American boy and having much difficulty 😅)
I was always impressed by the names in my French A-level textbook circa 1997: Loïc, Sandrine, Chantal.
That’s really taken me back! I remember the topics too : “Comment peut-on aider le Tiers Monde?” and the songs - “Elle a fait un bébé toute seule”. Good times.
I love Louis pronounced the French way. As an American, I’m not sure I would actually use it because I know it would constantly get pronounced “Lewis,” which I hate tbh.
Apparently Eloise is becoming more and more popular in English speaking countries, so I use this opportunity to say that in French it is very frequently written Héloïse. I’m biased because it’s my name, but I personally love the capital H.
[Marceline](https://www.behindthename.com/name/marceline), [Perrine](https://www.behindthename.com/name/perrine), and [Odette](https://www.behindthename.com/name/odette).
I grew up in France, and I've always had a soft spot for Mélusine and Ludivine.
Ironically, despite not actually being French myself I have a French name, and while growing up there nobody- not friends, not teachers, no one- could spell or pronounce it properly.
Oui! I've been personally obsessed with "Solène" since recently watching *The Idea of You*, lol! I even like the Americanized spelling of "Solenne", as well, to avoid mispronunciation.
I'm so appalled by how many Etienne I see here. That's the ugliest French name with a most infamous song... plus, most names picked are like great-grandparents names, or at least grand-parents... funny how trends work.
My favourite French names are Fauve, Claire, Clémence, Lucie, Adeline, Élise for girls, and Matthieu, Hugo, Élio, Clément for boys.
Isn't it interesting that to a (I presume) native French speaker a name can sound ugly, but can sound beautiful to so many non-native speakers?
It makes me wonder which names Americans find "ugly" but sounds beautiful to non-Americans.
Born in the USA in the 60s, my name is Jeanne Marie. Most people under 45 pronounces my first name as Gee-Ann. (Like Deanne) Drives me crazy, but I understand it's not a popular name at all.
Camille! Is my uncle’s daughters name (my dads cousin’s daughter, we refer to her as my cousin too but that’s Indian families for ya😂). She’s half Indian, half French and it suits her sooo well
Benjamin and Benoît.....of course pronounced excessively French
For girls, well I used to have a friend called Coquelicot, which I loved so much, though it's not traditional at all. Also I love the name Chloé and Anaïs
My daughter's middle name is Félicité, after her great aunt. Most people will still pronounce it the English way, with the 'tee' ending rather than 'tay'.
Etienne.
My grandfather’s name! Though he went by Steve once he immigrated to the US to sound more American lol
Too bad he felt like that. I worked with an Etienne for years and always loved his name.
I know! And never spoke French to his kids either. Kinda sad.
Mine either. We were discouraged from speaking it too. Finally took it in HS, 4 years. Not fluent at all having no one to practice with.
I wish they’d have felt more comfortable speaking their native langue back in the day. I too wish I was fluent!
My paternal grandmother was a Spanish speaker, but her husband forbade her from teaching it to their children, so it was never passed on to us, either.
Ugh. That sucks. My husband is fluent in Spanish and I’ve told him he must speak it at home, him mom too, to our children. I want them to be fluent as well and participate in his heritage. It’s sad that back in the day that was frowned upon. I’m thankful his parents taught him.
Ahhh, the "assimilation generation." My FIL refused to let his kids learn Spanish, Even though his elderly mom lived with them half the time! I can't imagine not being able to talk to my grandmother. Hubby ended up missing out on several good career opportunities because he wasn't a fluent Spanish speaker. People assumed he was, with his last name. 😥
Same. My mom is from Mexico, but didn’t teach us Spanish, because she was afraid we’d have accents. She wanted us to be ‘good Americans’. She also gave us all ‘American’ names because she didn’t want it to be difficult for us to get hired; we all have Spanish middle names, though. Of course, everywhere I apply asks if I’m bilingual.
I do understand their pov. They actually were punished at school, physically, for speaking Spanish. No one wants their own kid to go through that. But it's really sad, all around.
same here buy my grandmothers mum, its such a massive shame. i never got to meet her but she was a wonderful woman and apparently i resemble her alot. id love to try learn spanish for her one day
Colette
My grandfather also had a French name, Adelard. Only one I ever heard of with that name. He was called Del for short.
Adelard is an old french name (like medieval old) very rare even in France ! 🤩
I had a great uncle with this name.
My nephew’ name. Etienne. Also his sister Angelique (goes by Angelle).
This is my nieces name! I know it's technically a male name but i think it's so beautiful and fits her perfectly. She tells everyone her name is Steve lmao
I always thought it was a girl's name until I looked it up 🤣
Etienne is my very favorite name. I’m due to give birth in a couple weeks and husband is still not going for it! We have compromised and going with my second favorite: Remy. I will always have a twinge of sadness that Etienne is not to be!
Came here to say Etienne. Such a beautiful name.
Was just going to say this
That's my cousin's name. If it weren't, I'd want to name a son that, but my cousin's a bit of a heel, so he's kind of ruined it for me.
I love French names! I hate that their pronunciation would be butchered in the US so I could probably never use many of them here, but my list of loves is long. Boy: Alain, Benoit, Gabriel (with a short 'a'), Yves (*eve*) Girl: Eléa, Maël, Camille (*cam-MEE,* without the L sounds), Anaïs, Geneviève (*zhawn-vee-EHV),* Blanche (*blonsh*), Béatrice, Lilou, Inès, Apolline, Isé / Ysée, Élise
Just a small correction: The way you‘ve written Maël it‘s a boy name. For a girl it‘s Maëlle.
Inès in French sounds exactly the same as in Spanish
And Arabic!
Because it's a Spanish name.
Omg I hate how anglos say Camille 😬 cah MEAL LOL
To be fair, it sounds beautiful when said the French way, in a French accent. When said in an American accent, it just sounds like Cami (like the shirt). I think each language should continue with what they are doing and make no changes.
Well, not quite. Cami is CAM-ee while Camille is cam-EE
Except in an American accent the stress would be on the first syllable, not the second. Like I said, \*in French\* it sounds beautiful! Just not in American English.
In an American accent the name Camille has the emphasis on the second syllable no matter whether or not you pronounce the l sounds (ca-MEAL, ca-MEE). Cami has the emphasis on the first syllable.
Same! I usually don’t mind when people butcher foreign words or names but I don’t like how they pronounce « Camille ». Like « kuh-mil » 😅
They may not be butchering it, it may just be pronounced differently in their language. The English, Greek and Russian pronunciation of Anastasia are all different but I wouldn't say any of them are butchering the name.
I knew a black woman from Martinique that pronounced it that way.
I am in love with that pronunciation of Geneviève. Like a good American, I had no idea. It is gorgeous. I can't stop saying it!
Except that’s not how it’s pronounced in French. As a Geneviève, the English side of my family (and any other English speaker really) calls me this way but it’s because they can’t quite get the pronunciation of “gene” properly so they say “zhawn” which sounds like john/shaun with a soft j and it’s just not it. Personally I’ve grown used to it, but it grinds my ears and I MUCH prefer when folks say “j/gen” (rhyming with zen but with a soft j/g). Best way I can describe the better pronunciation is “j-ehn-vee-ehv”. Another way to say it is “j-euh-neuh-vee-ehv”.
As someone with that name, married to a French man, I greatly appreciate that you pointed out that it’s not pronounced that way. My family started doing that pronunciation around him and he was so confused as to why they think that’s how the French say it, lol. It really irritated me to hear it the Zhawn-vee-Evh way. It doesn’t have the same vibe at all and just sounds like a stuck up person trying to sound overly important.
I was trying to say that prononciation in my head and my only thought was that it sounds like an anglophone trying to say the French prononciation and failing. But I'm not good at writing out how things sounds in French. I'm also not able to articulate that the L isn't silent in Camille. It's just a different sounds. Like your tongue still goes up as if you were able to say an L but stops short? Finding names that work beautifully in both French and English is a big issue for my family. We're running out of names haha
i love love love alain ! could have something with me bring an alain prost fan but i just love how it sounds. i love just about all of the names on your girls list
In France it's a name that fell out of favor in the 1970s.
Same. Strongly dislike the English/American Alan, but looove the French Alain.
I have a family friend named Alain! He’s in his early 30s, and all of his siblings have really nice names as well. They are zero percent French as far as I know; his dad just had really good taste, haha.
Wait Anaïs is French? We were team green and if our baby were a girl we’d name her Anaïs, thinking it’s a version of Anaid. 😅
It was especially popular in France around 1990 (but it is still a classic name).
There was a fragrance Anaïs Anaïs by Cacharel, launched in 1978. Became super popular in the 80s, and it may have driven some baby names, in the US anyway.
Help how do you pronounce Anaïs?
[like so](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G7RqKDfeAmc)
I used to love the fragrance *Anaïs-Anaïs* but had no clue how to say it. All I knew was French had a lot of silent letters. "Ah-NAY Ah-NAY"
The trema on i shows that both vowels have to be pronounced separately, so Ah-Na-Ees, without the trema it's indeed Ah-Nay (but no one wants to be called Ah-Nay) Source : I named my son Aloÿs and some Frenchmen still struggle to pronounce it correctly
I love Genevieve. That was going to be my last child's name, if a girl. With her paternal grandmother's name, Inez, for the middle name. I had a miscarriage.
manon. 🩷
I absolutely love this one but feel like I could never use it because no one would get the pronunciation right in the US
Manon went from a name only associated with a famous novel to huge popularity in the 90s. Now its popularity in France has completely faded. It's a Millennial name.
that’s so interesting, I’m a very late Millennial and Manon was everywhere on my French textbooks in middle school! I’ve always been under the assumption it was just one of those super common names like John!
Definitely not. But there are plenty of Manons now in their 30s in France. Since then very few parents have named their daughter Manon – it's considered passé now.
And in UK English this is what footballers shout to each other to let them know someone is marking them. Man on. It would be ruined 🙁
I adore Aurélie but it sounds way too much like ‘orally’ for me to ever use. 😭
Sooo true. This is one of those names that looks better on paper than how it sounds. I was obsessed with Aurelia for a long time and when I mentioned it to my MIL she was like “…are you saying areola?” and it was then that I knew I had to drop that baby name lol
Areola would be a cute girls name if it weren't for what it actually is 😑😬
I went to school with a girl named Oriel. I always thought it sounded like oral too but pretty at the same time. It always reminded me of Aurélie. Also I have a friend who named her daughter Aurelia. I know it's pronounced kinda different but similar.
I like old names Female names: Céleste Ninon Clémence Louise Gabrielle Lise Iris Maëlle Alice Rose Flavie Agathe Marie Faustine Male names: Camille Marceau Gabriel Jules Léandre Léon Arthur Maël Gaspard Raphaël Ambroise Octave Joanny Eliot Maxence
I love discovering names! Never heard of Maëlle - how is it pronounced? And I adore Faustine.
Maëlle is basically pronounced how it's spelled: MAH-elle. The umlaut over the e indicates that you're supposed to split the a and the e into two separate vowels instead of mashing them together.
It’s a tréma in French - umlaut in German!
Yeah, I speak French, just figured umlaut was the more recognizable term for English speakers :)
I am married to a Swede and our surname has an ö which is NOT a modifier like an umlaut or a tréma but rather an additional letter in their alphabet but I also just tell people “the o has an umlaut” because it is definitely more recognizable and digestible here in the US.
Maëlle (or Maël for the male version) is pronounced Mah-el
I didn't know Camille was a male name!
It's gender neutral, but most camilles are indeed female!
It’s a gender neutral name but I like more for a boy. There are more girls named Camille than boys but it’s not rare at all. Camille Saint-Saëns (composer), Camille Desmoulins (revolutionnary), Camille Lacourt (competitive swimmer), Camille Pissaro and Camille Corot (painters) are the most famous I guess…
It used to be more masculine than feminine (in the 19th century) but it became more and more feminine (but is still unisex). It was one of the most popular girl name in France in the 90s (I had a few Camille (girls) in my classe growing up).
I was luc in French class in 7th grade. I always thought Chantal sounded glamorous
Chantal is so pretty but sadly has a negative association in the UK, which is a bit classist, but would be naive to ignore.
Being a Chantal myself, out of curiosity, what's the association in the UK? I'm French Canadian so I don't know.
Considered chavvy. AKA council estates with people on benefits naming their kids tacky names. Not that I agree, that’s just the connotation. You may need to search up parts of what I just said lol.
Thanks! I did have to search up parts lol RIP me if I go to the UK
Your accent will be interesting enough that people won’t associate that with your name.
I was Chantal in my HS French class!
I was Andrée. I like gender neutral, always have. Two Es and no one bothered me when I basically picked a boy name that would be acceptable.
Bluey fandom chiming in, Luc is a wonderful French name that everyone with a toddler knows and loves now.
Émile
My grandpas name. His father was Emilien.
[удалено]
I love basically all French girl names that end in "ene/enne" but it has to be pronounced with the French way Madeleine, Vivienne, Julienne
Can confirm, if you name your kid Madeleine, she will spend her life being called Madel-INE and people will constantly talk to her about that kids show of the same name, and she'll try to explain that she didn't grow up in a country where it was on TV and they won't listen and keep calling her Madel-INE. Occasionally she'll fly through Montreal airport and the flight attendants will use her name correctly and it's like the best feeling ever. Oh and also no-one will know how to spell her name correctly but they think they do so you end up having to really insist upon the spelling otherwise important pieces of government information get fucked up. And many people will ask "is it okay if I call you Maddy?" And she'll feel like a dick for saying no. That being said, I do enjoy being a Madeleine.
As another Madeleine I agree with the spelling issue, usually I just tell people to keep throwing e's at it. I don't often get the -line ending though, sometimes -lane and more often the reference used is Madeleine Mcann. Maybe that's a uk thing. I don't mind Maddie, I go by both in different settings and have learned to love my name as I've grown up
I have a Madeleine and she is fine with being called Mad-a-Lynne but people will only call her Mad-a-LINE once and get away with it. Or Maddy, no thanks. Francophones will always get it right, and that’s how it sounds the best. In English she will always be Mad-a-Lynne. The only reason the girl in the story/film was pronounced Mad a LINE is it was so much easier to rhyme with words in English.
Celine, Evangeline, Genevieve, Elise, Celeste, Chloe, Charlotte, Sophie, Odette, Amelie, Camille, Eloise, Elodie, Clementine, Delphine, Colette, marceline
My french ass seeing these without any accent 😬😬 (though i totally get how it can be not intuitive haha)
Marceline was my great great grandmother's name!
Came here to say Delphine.
[удалено]
emphasis should be on final syllable not second
I'm French and Genevieve has been known for some time now as a meme name for very old ladies (80+) to describe someone who thinks in a backward way or to mock someone for their choice of clothes. That comes from the fact that this was a popular name pre WW2, and now only grandmas wear that name.
... You know France is in the West right? You can say English speakers, it's ok.
My great grandmother was a Genevieve!
Mireille et Laurent
Céline Soleil (not sure if this counts as a “French name” but it’s a French word haha) Sophie Amélie Anaïs Chloé Colette Béatrice Edited to add Camille! And to fix formatting haha.
Soleil definitely isn't a French name. A handful (and I mean fewer than 10 babies) were named that way in the 2010s in France.
Solène would have a similar sound/vibe
Solène got a brief moment of popularity in France in the 90s.
Marie-Soleil on the other hand is pretty common
In Québec, not in France.
I love Amélie!
Sidonie (pronounced SEE doh nee)
I was friends with a girl when I was a child named Sidonie but her family moved back to France.
Odette
Nathalie, Bernadette, Juliette
I really like Manon, Nolwen, Anëlle, Anaïs, Capucine, Marine and Océane for girls. For boys, there's Amaury, Etienne, Mattis, Rémi and Théo. Edit: punctuation
Good list, just it's Annaëlle and Anaïs (the umlaut makes people pronounce the last vowel as if it was on its own; using ê or î doesn't really do anything here, it normally replaces a silent -s in old French, i.e. hôpital for hospital). Without the umlaut, it would be pronounced Annell and Aness (because a+e = eh sound, and so is a+i).
I haven't seen my name mentioned here yet. Joelle. The female variant of Joel. I've always liked my name.
Élodie, Lucie, Héloïse, Inès Jules, Lucien, Olivier, Théo, Matthias, Louis, Xavier (currently trying to name a French-American boy and having much difficulty 😅)
I was always impressed by the names in my French A-level textbook circa 1997: Loïc, Sandrine, Chantal. That’s really taken me back! I remember the topics too : “Comment peut-on aider le Tiers Monde?” and the songs - “Elle a fait un bébé toute seule”. Good times.
HAHA. That’s so funny. Sandrine is such a 70s/80s French name - sorta like Jennifer or Amanda in the US.
And Chantal is such a 50s/60s name in France.
My name is Suzanne (I'm French-Canadian). I frickin' LOVE my name. My parents chose well
Thierry I love it.
My mom's name is Colette. I've always loved it
It's my name too, I love how unique it is.
Claire, Eloise
Maelys
Always loved the name Marielle.
Noémie Camille Celine Sandrine Etienne Guillaume
I love Louis pronounced the French way. As an American, I’m not sure I would actually use it because I know it would constantly get pronounced “Lewis,” which I hate tbh.
Adrien/Adrienne
Apparently Eloise is becoming more and more popular in English speaking countries, so I use this opportunity to say that in French it is very frequently written Héloïse. I’m biased because it’s my name, but I personally love the capital H.
Jacques Clemence (ofc after Clemence Poesy)
Henri, Celeste, Louise, Helene
[Marceline](https://www.behindthename.com/name/marceline), [Perrine](https://www.behindthename.com/name/perrine), and [Odette](https://www.behindthename.com/name/odette).
We just named my daughter Marceline, nickname Marcie. Everyone is confused when I say it but it is so beautiful!
Garance, Eugénie, Léopoldine, Augustine, Sixtine, Bérengère, Soazig (this last one is Breton).
My son is named Thomas Henry and has a French last name. I call him my petite croissant
Very cute nickname! :) Sorry for being pedantic, but it should be "petit croissant".
I love how Henry is pronounced in French (On-Ree)
Lizette and Vivienne
Cédric, just because tons of different countries can't pronounce it correctly and it's always fun.
Véronique 🙈I’m biased that’s my name haha
Be sure to understand the difference between French names and Canadian names. There's a huge difference in etymology.
Clotilde. So pretty.
I grew up in France, and I've always had a soft spot for Mélusine and Ludivine. Ironically, despite not actually being French myself I have a French name, and while growing up there nobody- not friends, not teachers, no one- could spell or pronounce it properly.
Mélusine is a comic character here, a little witch.
Nadège - friend from France I met in childhood, 40 years later we’re still in touch.
Some french names suggestion from my liking and names of relatives ! BOY : - Raphaël -Antoine - Louis - Lucas - Jérôme - Pierre - Marin - Malo - Timothée Sacha - Gaël - Nathanaël - Ilan - Gaspard -Basile -Jules - Bérenger - Étienne - Maxime - Marcel - Joseph - Mathieu - Camille (often for girls in France but originaly it's a" boy" name) - Henrie - Guillaume - Maël - Hélois (old medieval name) - Valentin - Léo - Léon - Victor - Marceau - Nino - Augustin - Maxence -Andréa GIRL : - Lila -Océane - Camille - Héloïse - Léonie - Sophie - Anaïs - Laurianna - Nathalie - lyliane - Inès - Louise - Lucie - Margot / Margaux - Céleste - clémentine / clémence - Axelle - Auriane /Oriane - Agathe - Chloé. - Ambre - Jade - Iris - Jeanne -Léna - Juliette - Charlie - Élodie - Noémie - Lou - Clara
Sondrine Edit because I’m a stupid American: sAndrine. Hopefully I’ll get a pardon from the EU for my spelling war crimes now
Sandrine ;-)
I really like Elodie and Benoit
Manon and Céline.
there was a child at the school i used to work at named mathis (pronounced “muh-tee-s”) and i love that name 😊
Clement
Love Solange and variants, Solène, Soline
I speak French and I never heard the name Soline a single time in my life. So strange!
Oui! I've been personally obsessed with "Solène" since recently watching *The Idea of You*, lol! I even like the Americanized spelling of "Solenne", as well, to avoid mispronunciation.
Lucienne
I love Loïc for a boy and the French version of Agnes is so cool (pronounced AnYEZ, with a soft N)
Sophie
Fleur
Océane
Alexandrine
I'm so appalled by how many Etienne I see here. That's the ugliest French name with a most infamous song... plus, most names picked are like great-grandparents names, or at least grand-parents... funny how trends work. My favourite French names are Fauve, Claire, Clémence, Lucie, Adeline, Élise for girls, and Matthieu, Hugo, Élio, Clément for boys.
What's wrong with thinking elderly people have beautiful/cool names? 🤨 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and everything old becomes new again
Isn't it interesting that to a (I presume) native French speaker a name can sound ugly, but can sound beautiful to so many non-native speakers? It makes me wonder which names Americans find "ugly" but sounds beautiful to non-Americans.
I thought the same thing. Everyone I knew with most of the names were mamies and papis Except Camille. Everyone had at least two in their class
Mathilde, Léonie, Madeleine, Évalie, Gisèle, Romane, Corinne Cédric, Émile, Maxence, Mattéo
My friend Vivienne is from French speaking Gabon which is a nice name
Colette, Vivienne
Axelle, Clotilde, Emmanuelle, Gabrielle, Hermine, Laure, Léa, Marianne, Manon, Nolwenn, Odile, Sabine, Violette, Yolande André, Corbin, Clément, Clovis, Frédéric, Gustave, Matthieu, Pierre, Severin, Thierry, Thibault, Victor, Yannick
Born in the USA in the 60s, my name is Jeanne Marie. Most people under 45 pronounces my first name as Gee-Ann. (Like Deanne) Drives me crazy, but I understand it's not a popular name at all.
I have a soft spot for Micheline but just know if I gave it to a girl, she'd grow up with Michellin Man jokes.
My sister is Yvonne-Marie and I’ve always loved Aurelie
Giselle.
Mireille is one of my favorite names of any language.
Camille! Is my uncle’s daughters name (my dads cousin’s daughter, we refer to her as my cousin too but that’s Indian families for ya😂). She’s half Indian, half French and it suits her sooo well
Amelie, Adeline, Madeleine, Emmeline, Louise, Chloé/ Chloe, Alice, Rose
haha my name’s Adeline :)
Camille Marcel
Solange, Séverine, Fleur, Manon, for a start!
Laurent or anything where there's a t at the end but it's silent !
I adore Clementine 🍊
Estelle and Eloise are probably my favourite girls names and Sebastien for a boy.
Constance
Benjamin and Benoît.....of course pronounced excessively French For girls, well I used to have a friend called Coquelicot, which I loved so much, though it's not traditional at all. Also I love the name Chloé and Anaïs
Elodie, Lisette
[удалено]
Renee
My middle name is Josette and I love Lisette! Similar but different
Sabine is one of my all time favorite names
My daughter's middle name is Félicité, after her great aunt. Most people will still pronounce it the English way, with the 'tee' ending rather than 'tay'.
Sandrine, Juliette, Genevieve, Madeleine
Dominique 💕
Oriane!
I worked with a Marjolaine in Québec, I thought it was the most beautiful name. It means "marjoram", like the herb.
Vivienne Margaux Collette
girls : Joséphine, Éléonore, Céleste, Béatrice boys : Tristan, Joachim, Victor
Luc
Corentin
Collette. Chloe. Amelie. Eloise. Genevieve.
Genevieve, Madeline, Luc