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Baby names

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

Original poster

Boy's name - work in French and English

87 replies

LeBFG · 19/10/2012 17:45

My mum can't pronounce anything vaguely French but we live in France. So, we're looking for boys names that work in both languages and are pronounced vaguely the same for ease of switching.

Problem is, last time round, we struggled like hell and finally settled on Leon just after DS's birth - very last minute. Found out a few weeks ago we're expecting another boy. A girl's name would be soooo much easier Hmm....

Any help appreciated.

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Jux · 19/10/2012 23:20

Your mum doesn't have to pronounce a French name perfectly, or French friends to pronounce an English name perfectly; so long as there is a name that is vaguely comparable in the two languages, things will be fine.

I have a cousin called Xavier which is very different in the two languages, and another cousin called Etienne (who is - unsurprisingly - Stephen, over here). They were both boarders in England, but spent holidays with their (French/half-French) parents in France. Really there was never a problem with the names.

I have an English friend who has one name in London, where he went to school, and a completely different name in Manchester where he grew up. He spends almost equal amounts of time in both places, and has long term sets of friends in each place - and yes, we do sometimes all get together. He has managed like that for 60 odd years. Grin

MaKettle · 19/10/2012 22:50

Max

BikeRunSki · 19/10/2012 22:42

Vincent
Luke
Samuel
Daniel
Patrick
Dominuc

rachel234 · 19/10/2012 22:31

I thought Pascale was a girls' name in France Confused

tittytittyhanghang · 19/10/2012 22:22

Julien

musttidyupmusttidyup · 19/10/2012 22:21

Another vote for pascal. V cool name.

schroedingersdodo · 19/10/2012 22:17

Jerome? (I love the way the French say it)

rachel234 · 19/10/2012 22:01

Here are the top 30 most popular boys names in France:

  1. Enzo
  2. Lucas
  3. Mathis
  4. Nathan
  5. Thomas
  6. Hugo
  7. Théo
  8. Tom
  9. Louis
10. Raphaël 11. Clément 12. Léo 13. Mathéo 14. Maxime 15. Alexandre 16. Antoine 17. Yanis 18. Paul 19. Baptiste 20. Alexis 21. Gabriel 22. Arthur 23. Jules 24. Ethan 25. Noah 26. Quentin 27. Axel 28. Evan 29. Mattéo 30. Romain
Graceparkhill · 19/10/2012 20:52

How about Guy? Not hard to pronounce in French. DS1 has pal called Guy and he is a lovely boy. Not relevant but true.

fraktion · 19/10/2012 20:48

We had it down to

Luc(a)
Marc
Victor
Alexander/re
Louis
Daniel
Stefan
Thomas
Blaise

DS used one of them, so I reckon we have a few left if we have another Wink I have to say I didn't love all of them but they were liveable with

discrete · 19/10/2012 20:48

Patrick?

I feel for you. I live in France too and had to make my dc's names compatible with other languages. I thought they would be OK for the French, but they really struggle with them.

It's that awkward stress on the first versus last syllable issue....

HappyTurquoise · 19/10/2012 20:42

Oh yes, Pascal is a good one!

Iggly · 19/10/2012 20:26

George/Georges?

gastrognome · 19/10/2012 20:25

Gregory? Have a couple of French friends/colleagues with that name. I love it.

Bonsoir · 19/10/2012 20:21

Benjamin
Dominic
David
Bruno
Marc
Simon
Max
Victor
Thomas

ilovemydogandMrObama · 19/10/2012 20:20

Pascal? It's not difficult in English...

culturemulcher · 19/10/2012 20:18

My DS was born in France. We went for Benjamin / Ben - same in both languages, just different inflection for the longer version.

HappyTurquoise · 19/10/2012 20:15

Ralph. Sounds like someone throwing up whoever says it. (or maybe that's just me...the only Ralph I ever met was an american, and I threw up on his shoes.)

Bernard
Jacques/Jack
Charles
Frederic
Mohammed
Ahmad
Brian
Christian
Eric (accent on the e)
Bruno
Marc
Philip?
Donald
Maurice
George(s)
Louis
Xavier
Chris
Sebastian (accent on e)
Damian

There's loads of almosts, but few which would be exactly the same.

I'd go for Etienne

sommewhereelse · 19/10/2012 20:12

Samuel
Tom

TheSandstoneCat · 19/10/2012 20:11

In my son's class (in Brussels) there is an Alex, Elliot, Mark, Jack and Ben.......

sommewhereelse · 19/10/2012 20:11

Definitely not Nick. It sounds rude when the French pronounce it!

invicta · 19/10/2012 20:08

Andre
Marc
Henri
Thierry
Sebastien
Michel

MarianForrester · 19/10/2012 20:05

Louis?

Waswondering · 19/10/2012 20:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Blu · 19/10/2012 20:03

I'm not sure I would be basing the choice of your child's name, which he will have for life, around your mother's inability to pronounce French. Give him a name you love and if she can't say it she can develop her own pet name or nickname to call him.

Edouard.

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