Names for a franco-british baby

[cocolacocotte]

Hi all,

I'm not at the end of the first trimester yet but have already started thinking about possible names. I'm British, my husband is French and we plan to stay in France, however, since my family is still in the UK and I want this child to be able to feel at home in both countries, I'd like a name that works well in both languages.

I have a very long list and I would appreciate some UK feedback on a few of the names on it.

Girl
Allegra
Clémence
Solange
Séverine
Coralie
Luce
Adélie
Rosalie
Tullia
Adeline

Boy
Matteo
Raphaël

(I do have more boy's names but they are pretty standard ones)

Thanks in advance

Balonz

Sophie/Claire/Marie type names?

Are you wanting feedback on whether they will work in the UK? Or just general like/dislike?

If the first then the following probably are the most 'bilingual'
Allegra
Clémence (lose the accent maybe?)
Solange
Coralie
Rosalie (I went to uni with a lovely Rosalie)
Adeline
Raphaël (surely no need for an umlaut?)

I live in a very cosmopolitan area so none of the names would present an issue here.

Personally I like them all except for Luce (confusion with Lucy/ia and sounds like loose) - Raphael and Clemence would be my favourites.

The names on your list that "sound British" to me are:

Rosalie, Allegra, Coralie

The rest I would think of as French. That's not a problem, it's just how they first strike me!

Tut tut Yonic. Balonz is an ancient Surrey name.

All those names strike me as being more French than British, probably because you've used an "ie" on the end, where British names would end in a "y". Having said that, they would all work inthe UK, albeit with different accent.
My opinion:

Allegra - OK
Clmence (sounds like a boy's name in English - Clemintine might be better)
Solange - dreadful
Sverine - nice, but not common in UK
Coralie - too "pretty" for my taste
Luce - people would think this is a nn for Lucy
Adlie - no
Rosalie - no
Tullia - how do you pronounce it?
Adeline - no

Boy
Matteo - isn't this Italian rather than French?
Raphal - OK

What about
Miriam
Sandrine
Odile
Elodie
Eloise
Helene
Marine
Natalie
Noelle
Joelle

Phillipe
Xavier
Henri
Mattieu
Benedict
Benoit
David
Thomas

Allegra reminds me of an Austin Allegro which is not a good thing.

I do like Adeline and Rosalie (which would be shortened to Rosie).

How about Isabelle/Isabel?

wow, thanks for answering so quickly.

To clarify, I don't mind if the name sounds French, in fact it would be better if it did since the baby's childhood will be spent here and I think it would be easier to fit in with a French sounding name. I suppose I'm just trying to be sure that the poour little tadpole doesn't spend their entire life having to explain their name to family or people in the UK if they decide to live there at a later date.

To answer some of the questions:

Tullia is pronounced tuh-lee-ah

Matteo is of italian origin but is being used more and more over here as a modern alternative to Mathieu (a name I really like but I think that it would result in a lifetime of 'no, not matthew, mathieu')

As for some of the suggestions,

Marine is completely out for political reasons as it is the first name of the leader of the extreme right-wing party over here and I just couldn't bring myself to use it
Isabelle (and variations) hélène (and variations) and David are all out for family/friends reasons

Rosalie is my favourite for a girl at the moment so I'm glad to see nobody has slated it yet.

Also, marine just makes me think of a trip to the ocean. I think you'd need an 'a' on the end instawd of an 'e' to make if float with an English speaking crowd.

I really like Clémence and Rosalie. Rosalie I'd say sounds more British though.

Luc for a boy works well in both languages.

Aurelie
Naomi
Claire
Elodie
Manon
Irene
Merle

Luc
Marc
Lucian
Nicolas

Hi, we are in the same situation (I'm British, my husband is French) though we are UK based, albeit with regular trips to France. Of your names, I'd say the 'average' British person (i.e. not a French speaker and not in a particularly multicultural area) would struggle with spelling/pronouncing: Clémence, Solange, Séverine, Tullia, Adelie, Adeline. Coralie and Rosalie are easier, though Coralie in particular sounds a bit twee in English to me. Luce would sound like a casual nickname for 'Lucy'. Matteo and Raphael would both be fine I think. Maybe think about how some of these names would sound pronounced in a 'British' way? Especially if your family are not confident French speakers themselves. E.g. Clemence and Solange are pretty names in French but quite ugly (in my opinion!) if pronounced in a very 'British' way ('Clemments' and 'So-landge'). You don't want to be cringing every time Granny says the name, and also ideally you don't want Granny to be feeling embarrassed every time she tries to say it either! We chose names that are relatively common/familiar in both languages (with the same spelling, if not pronunciation) for that reason, though that does limit your options a lot.

I totally agree about Marine- the associations are awful.

Absolutely Rosalie, beautiful in both accents.

I am also British with a French DH.
I think your girl names are very French except for Allegra and Tullia which I've never heard of in any language (Tullia, that is). I love the name Solange but didn't use it for my DD as I don't think it works well in English
How about
Emmeline/Emma
Josephine
Constance
Justine
Melanie
Madeleine

And for boys
Raphael
Gabriel
Leo
Louis
Noah

Rosalie is my favourite too. I know a little French girl called Melody (or you could use Elodie?) and one called Camille. Both work in English but sound prettier with a French accent!

I think Rosalie is gorgeous and my other favourite on your girl's list is Adelie. (Sorry can't do accents on my phone). It's received a few comments of too French on here but many, many people have heard of Adele (if not consciously at least while out shopping or listening to the radio) so I don't think it would be as unfamiliar as it originally seems.

Solange I find a bit strange because of its meaning in German. Its meaning isn't bad but it is a little weird to use as a name (it's a prepositional phrase whose English equivalent is 'as long as').

Severine reminds me of the word severe and auto-corrects to severing both of which put me off it.

I like both Matteo and Raphael. Teo or Matt, Rafa or Rafi are all good nicknames too.

Clemence will never be pronounced properly in the UK. I like allegra. What about Francesca, Clarice or Aline?

Boys:

Love Raphael.What about Luca, Benjamin or Bruno?

I'm in the same position as you and we struggled to find something that worked equally in both languages.

I found girls names much easier than boys.

We had...
Emmeline
Margot
Cora
Coralie
Fleur

Gabriel
Fabian
Raphael
Xavier

Solene?

Theo is another boys name that works for both... mine was v happy to find named things in shops in France

Rosalie is lovely and Coralie, Adelie, Francesca or Anne, Alice for simple classic names...

Rosalie is very pretty; Clementine would be easier for English speakers, though I really like Clemence, too. (Sorry, can't do accents.) English speakers could manage Clemency, however. Would that work for your French friends and relatives?

I also really like Tullia. As you know, she was a Roman noblewoman. There is a lovely legend associated with her tomb, and an even better poem referring to her legend as a symbol of undying love:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tullia_Ciceronis

Girl
Allegra - Like it, a little bit Disney princess for my taste, but no spelling/pronunciation issues as it's the same in English
Clmence - Like it a lot but the accent will be missed off and a few people may assume boy, if that bothers you
Solange - I think of Beyonce's sister. Not as nice with an English accent as a French accent (much harder sounding)
Sverine - Reminds me of "severe" so not keen personally
Coralie - very pretty
Luce - definitely not (Loose). Lucie or Lucia are pretty though
Adlie - Pretty but I would think you meant either Adele or Adeline? Again the accent will be missed off a lot
Rosalie - pretty, quite popular at the moment, possibly the Twilight effect
Tullia - Never heard it but like it, it sounds regal.
Adeline - Like it

Boy
Matteo - Like
Raphal - Like, especially if you are French.

Other ideas (girls only I'm afraid, I'm rubbish at boys names!)

Eloise
Madeleine
Carine
Genevieve
Marianne
Alice