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Baby names

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

Original poster

French female names

110 replies

Rororowmeboat · 20/03/2013 11:03

I like Madeleine and Cecile but not 100% happy with them - does anyone have any suggestions for similar?

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Shewhojuggles · 25/03/2013 14:23

I think Noémie (sp?) is beautiful, or Noelle is lovely too. Good luck with your DD x

CruCru · 25/03/2013 12:06

Thing about choosing a French name is you need to be absolutely sure of how it is pronounced - which I am not for quite a few of these. It would be awful to name your kid something and then find out it's pronounced quite differently.

chaya5738 · 24/03/2013 11:48

I am nuts about Sabine and Simone. I like Ines too.

fussychica · 23/03/2013 16:31

Inez

sleepy78 · 23/03/2013 12:14

At DD1's creche there are:

Azalice (I don't know how it's spelt but it sounds like that)
Manon
Clothilde
Lucie

I like Aurelie and Amelie and Faustine. But when we names our DD1 we looked for a name which sounded more or less exactly the same in England and France - I didn't want her to have to spell and pronounce her name for the rest of her life! So we chose Marianne..

WormCanner · 23/03/2013 11:56

vitaminC
But Mirabel(le) doesn't sound eccentric, because it has been used as an English forename for many years. The examples you have given have not.

cuillereasoupe · 23/03/2013 08:48

I know a Prunelle... double Hmm...

vitaminC · 23/03/2013 08:35

Heh. I know a hamster called Myrtille.
And I actually know someone who named her daughter Prune! Hmm

Worm Well I think it's a bit off to scoff at the name Mirabelle because it's a fruit, while fully accepting Clementine, which is also a fruit ....

By that reasoning, you could say "well, Poppy, Lily, Daisy etc are flowers which are commonly used as names, so why shouldn't I call my daughter Rhododendron or Crocus?"

I really wasn't scoffing - just pointing out it would sound rather eccentric...

cuillereasoupe · 23/03/2013 07:49

If you think Mirabelle is bad, I know a Myrtille Grin. Most of the little girls around where I live are called Fadhila and Fatoumata... though there is a Beyonce at nursery Smile

EldritchCleavage · 23/03/2013 00:49

Laurence
Agnes

ElegantSufficiency · 22/03/2013 23:51

I'm not bothered, as one of my children has a name that is dated. Although I think it works today.

One woman I know told her Nanny Fanny to introduce herself as Annie Grin as Fanny is just not workable here. Good advice imo. Now if a name was that unusuable in a close or neighbouring country I'd probably rule it out. But the fact that it's dated, in another country.... so what really (just my opinion)

MidnightMasquerader · 22/03/2013 04:24

Some people really aren't bothered about whether a name is dated - some even go for such names.

I was given a dated name in the 70s and now you can't move for babies being named it. I now have an on-trend ( :-/ for want of a better phrase) name in my 30s.

DS has a dated name.

Dated names can be a very refreshing change.

MidnightMasquerader · 22/03/2013 04:20

OneLittletoddleTerror - Peter?!

raisah · 22/03/2013 02:20

Valerie - fab song by The Zutons before being spoilt by Amy Winehouse
Anicee
Vivienne

georgettemagritte · 22/03/2013 00:32

Aurelie
Clemence
Albertine
Garance
Mireille
Laure

LOVE Aurelie and Albertine - was nearly brave enough to give one if these to DD. If only she was French! (Sorry, my accents not working on phone ATM)

anonymosity · 21/03/2013 23:50

Clarice
Agnes (Onyez)
Jean
Claire

FossilMum · 21/03/2013 22:20

Aline
Gabrielle

twinklestar2 · 21/03/2013 22:17

Amelie
Elise
Anaia

SizzleSazz · 21/03/2013 21:56

Emmeline, Elise, Beatrice, Lucie, Aurelia

hemel07 · 21/03/2013 21:50

DD1, sorry!

hemel07 · 21/03/2013 21:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FossilMum · 21/03/2013 20:25

Janique
Michelle
Nicole
Sylvie
Lucie

TheRedQueen · 21/03/2013 17:00

How about Marguerite?

INeverSaidThat · 21/03/2013 14:17

The Capucine I knew was a French Canadian if that makes any difference to the pronounciation.

Laquila · 21/03/2013 14:15

I would have pronounced Capucine as Capoosheen, but also it makes me think of the Capuchin monks in Rome who decorated their crypts with the bones of their dead....sorry!