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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Help me find a French girls' name

59 replies

thrillahkillah · 17/01/2012 22:03

I'm only a month or so pg but I foresee divorce looming over a possible girl's name.

We have a highly unusual surname that begins with O. It's from a v obscure area of France & the tradition is to use French names, particularly Occitan names.

So, the name must not begin with B (B.O.) or H (H.O.)... and should ideally be French. DH is one of those people who has a random association for every name under the sun, so has nixed about a million already. He also hates highly unusual names (because he has one... Occitan too... ) sigh

Here is our combined list so far.

FNs:
Anna
Annabel/le
Lucie
Rose
Stéphanie
Valérie

MNs:
Adela/Adèle
Helène
Jane
Marie

...ideas and opinions welcome. Combination suggestions (only with the MNs listed... we won't use a MN unless it's for a family member) also welcome.

Boys we're OK with I think. We are going with Vincent or Dominic, possibly Guy as a middle name.

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LikeAnAdventCandleButNotQuite · 21/01/2012 20:49

One of my favourite names is french: Fabienne

I love it!

helebeth · 21/01/2012 20:39

my father is french and I was called Helena Elizabeth Rosalia

Bonsoir · 20/01/2012 09:43

CultureMix - Emma is a properly French name (it's the abbreviation of Emmanuelle).

dollywashers · 19/01/2012 22:12

Manon is lovely. I like Clementine and Valentine too.

Risette · 19/01/2012 21:25

Emma is a very popular name for newborns where I live in France.

Anna and Lucie are beautiful names, especially with Helene.

CultureMix · 18/01/2012 23:32

Went through all this then we had boys...

Personally while there are some lovely French names I think it's important to find one that's easy to spell and easy to pronounce in English as well, otherwise could be a burden on your DD. And there are some lovely names that are completely bilingual e.g. Sophie, Alice, Laura. Plus some English ones - in fact my very French cousin (in France) is named Emma and works very well as it's simple.

Just a thought - with a last name starting in a vowel do you want/mind if the first name is a vowel as well?

You could always look on French websites like this one for inspiration though they do throw up some fairly obscure names as well. This one isn't bad as you can specify an ending for example "ie" to narrow it down.

Good luck, still a long time yet to choose and not worth divorcing over, you will in the end find at least one name you both like Wink.

Thumbwitch · 18/01/2012 23:27

Enjoyresponsibly - that list looks remarkably like the girls' names in my French text books from school!

From your list I would choose Rose, but might consider Rosalie instead, with Helene as a middle name.

xanthum · 18/01/2012 18:18

How about

Corrine ? lovely

PastGrace · 18/01/2012 18:15

Oh Cecilia is beautiful!

PastGrace · 18/01/2012 18:14

I love Lucie Helène or Anna Marie.

Other names I like are
Eugenie
Justine
Amelie
Eloise
Delphine
Sibylle (I think this is beautiful in French, and predict Sibyl becoming much more popular in UK after Downton)
Leonie

I'm not a fan of Violette or Manon because of their opera characters, even though I think they are beautiful.

disparatehousemice · 18/01/2012 18:05

(Occitans) Alienor, Amèlia,Audetta, Belina, Brigida, Catarina, Catalina, Cecilia, Elena, Emili ............prenoms.occitans.free.fr/

disparatehousemice · 18/01/2012 17:58

Sarah, Anaïs, Juliette, Manon, Romane, Noemi, Eva, Clara, Camille,

monkeybumsmum · 18/01/2012 17:48

I adore the name Capucine, but maybe a bit too unusual for your dh?

Amelie is also very pretty Smile

albertswearingen · 18/01/2012 17:47

Claudine
Therese

EnjoyResponsibly · 18/01/2012 17:44

Claudette
Delphine
Marie-france

MissFenella · 18/01/2012 17:37

I am very fond of Clotile, it sounds good in a British accent too.

doradoo · 18/01/2012 17:28

What about L

Laure/Laura
Claire/Clare
Georgette
Melissa/Melisse

Can you post some example of Occitan names to see if the MN-massif (central?) can come up with some variations?

Original poster
thrillahkillah · 18/01/2012 17:18

PercyFilth apologies, the Occitan thing is a red herring, the names do not have to be Occitan necessarily. French will do. Especially since DH has a horror of unusual names... and most Occitan names are highly unusual to English ears.

So glad I posted here, thanks a million for all the lovely suggestions. Going to compile a bit more of a shortlist I think, and run them past DH.

More suggestions and opinions welcome too.

OP posts:
Bonsoir · 18/01/2012 16:28

I'm Anna and I live in France and it is a very easy name to have here. There are, however, many more French little girl Annas than Annas of my own generation.

I also like Annabelle and Lucie from your list. Rose is a bit dull and Stéphanie and Valérie are old fashioned and really boring to my ears.

How about Rosalie? Anne-Isabelle shortened to Anise?

Cristiane · 18/01/2012 16:10

Manon

Ottoline

redrubyshoes · 18/01/2012 16:09

Annabelle Jane from your list but I love the name Anouk.

BupcakesandCuntWorms · 18/01/2012 15:57

Or Vag for short. Beautiful.

fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 18/01/2012 15:46

Vagine..or "FouFou" for short

ilovedjasondonovan · 18/01/2012 15:45

Violette

RatDesPaquerettes · 18/01/2012 15:44

Vagine??? Really???? A lifetime of misery for the poor girl, I would think!