Page 4 | Help French boys name!

wildswimmer20 · 2023-05-09T16:22:52+00:00

Pregnant with no. 2, hubbie is French but we live in the UK. 1st child has an unusual Celtic name and this time would like to choose a French name but struggling! Needs to be fairly easy to say/spell in both languages. Wouldn’t probably go for a very traditional French name. Top choice at the moment is Artus, like the nicknames Art and Artie. Would be pronounced quite differently in French and English, does it sound ok in English? Other options - Léon Sylvain Mathis / Matisse Malo Open to suggestion!

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CharlottenBerg · 11/05/2023 10:09

checktoolate · 11/05/2023 00:21

Please don't use "Manu" until at least the end of Macrons mandate! I'm a fan of macron to be honest but I think he's going to go down as one of the most hated presidents in French history and if you're future son ever tried to start a career in France and people worked out he'd been named Manu during macrons mandate I don't think it would play in his favor.

I hated Sarko more, and still do.

CharlottenBerg · 11/05/2023 10:08

checktoolate · 11/05/2023 00:21

Please don't use "Manu" until at least the end of Macrons mandate! I'm a fan of macron to be honest but I think he's going to go down as one of the most hated presidents in French history and if you're future son ever tried to start a career in France and people worked out he'd been named Manu during macrons mandate I don't think it would play in his favor.

Manu Chao has been a big favourite musician in our house for years. Why are people so obsessed with 'fashion'??? In any case Manu is just a diminutive of (in his case 'Pierre-Manuel'. Like 'Gilou' for Gilles, 'Philu' for Phillippe, etc. It would be like officially calling a kid 'Ken' instead of 'Kenneth', or 'Jim' instead of 'James'. I do note that this shortening on the birth cert seems to be quite popular these days. I will note that we gave one of our daughters 'Betty' as a middle name, and the registrar said 'Do you mean Elizabeth'?.

checktoolate · 11/05/2023 00:22

your*

checktoolate · 11/05/2023 00:21

Please don't use "Manu" until at least the end of Macrons mandate! I'm a fan of macron to be honest but I think he's going to go down as one of the most hated presidents in French history and if you're future son ever tried to start a career in France and people worked out he'd been named Manu during macrons mandate I don't think it would play in his favor.

tourdefrance · 10/05/2023 22:13

Sebastien
Pierre
Martin
Benoit
Kevin 😉

I don't think it matters if the name is from the 'wrong generation' if your child is growing up in the UK. I'm half French and my name is very unusual for my generation in France but was just unusual in the UK.

mathanxiety · 10/05/2023 22:08

CharlottenBerg · 10/05/2023 20:00

Er, I did. Not saying which one, but I will tell you that my grandmother said 'Why did you want to choose such an old-fashioned name?' I said 'because we like it'. DP and I don't much like 'fashionable' or 'cool' names. For one thing, they date. We especially don't like the fashion for first names that are surnames, like Brandon for example. I read recently that one of the most popular boy's names in France about 20 years ago was 'Kevin', and it now has roughly the same ring in French ears as Wayne and Waynetta.

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Wayne, Waynetta, and - sorry - but also Gary, Brian, Linda, and Stacey.

They're few and far between because they're dated. They were once the height of cool.

CharlottenBerg · 10/05/2023 20:00

mathanxiety · 10/05/2023 16:33

There are thousands of Garys and Staceys and Brians and Lindas across the Anglophone world, but would you call your child one of those names?

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Er, I did. Not saying which one, but I will tell you that my grandmother said 'Why did you want to choose such an old-fashioned name?' I said 'because we like it'. DP and I don't much like 'fashionable' or 'cool' names. For one thing, they date. We especially don't like the fashion for first names that are surnames, like Brandon for example. I read recently that one of the most popular boy's names in France about 20 years ago was 'Kevin', and it now has roughly the same ring in French ears as Wayne and Waynetta.

NameChange30 · 10/05/2023 19:13

I love Ivo. Not very French though. The French version is Yves but I don't think that would pass the generation test?!

Janedamaz · 10/05/2023 19:09

British/French family here, I'm the French one.

Which names are now in your shortlist?

@mathanxiety list is spot on. Current, not faddy, and not dated.

I would recommend the exact same names (I have a crush on Elio). You also can't go wrong with @Whataretalkingabout list.

My shortlist would be:

Classic but not dated:
Charles
Arthur
Thomas
Joseph (he will probs always be Joe though in the UK)
Baptiste (love it, made moe known through the BBC series Baptiste, so people would know how to pronounce it).

Cool and current:
Gabriel
Raphael
Oscar
Elio

Also love love Maximilien, NN Max, if I have a DS will use this. Or pick an English one and use Ivo.

Oh and not sure about the pronunciation but Yvan I find gorgeous.

Good luck!

drumandthebass · 10/05/2023 17:25

I love Benoit

Marney41 · 10/05/2023 17:16

Sacha

mathanxiety · 10/05/2023 16:39

Rafael
Elio
Joseph
Thomas
Baptiste
Axel
Adam
Enzo
Eliott
Tiago
Oscar
Adrien
Gabriel

Whataretalkingabout · 10/05/2023 16:35

American /French family here.
I recommend : Gaspard, Edouard, Remi, Vincent, Victor, Pascal, Maxime, Sébastien, Hubert, George, Charles, Albert, Martin, Henry.....

mathanxiety · 10/05/2023 16:33

CharlottenBerg · 10/05/2023 09:27

@TellTailTale "Yes to this! Beware of Laurent, Claude, Gérard, Pascal, Alain , Dominique, Guy, Michel, Jacques, Philippe... I couldn't really imagine them on a child "

I don't see your point - there must be thousands or millions of people across the Francophone world with those names, who must have been children at some point.

There are thousands of Garys and Staceys and Brians and Lindas across the Anglophone world, but would you call your child one of those names?

floradora · 10/05/2023 16:29

Manu (for Emanuel)
Vadim
Baptiste
Maël
Téo
Mathias
Mattéo
Hugo (better inEnglish than Hugues)
Valentin
Romain

mathanxiety · 10/05/2023 16:28

Liam is popular in France right now.

ThickSkinnedSoWhat · 10/05/2023 16:20

JuneOsborne · 09/05/2023 17:35

Etienne is my favourite french boys name. Also like Didier.

I came here to say Etienne too. First to pop into my head!

Findyourneutralspace · 10/05/2023 16:15

Emmanuel nn Mani

Original poster

wildswimmer20 · 10/05/2023 16:12

Thanks everyone some great suggestions in there and looking forward to discussing with DH tonight! Particularly love Marius 🙂

As others have said it is difficult as many names get vetoed due to being the “wrong generation” even if I think they would sound lovely here in the UK! Don’t want him laughed at by all his French cousins though 😅

OP posts:

puttingontheritz · 10/05/2023 15:54

MmeCamenbert · 10/05/2023 13:00

I live in France and the biggest shock I got was one of my kids coming home saying there was a little boy in their class called Swan 🦢
Pierre
Antoine
Henri
Marin
Léon
Rémy
Gilles
Luc
Marc
I think they are all lovely classy names 😊

I've heard Swann too (also Swan), I don't know if they are fans of Marcel Proust or Dave (the singer).

DisforDarkChocolate · 10/05/2023 15:45

I love Hubert. I'm not expecting a lot of love here to be honest.

FayCarew · 10/05/2023 15:37

@LoveTheDramaMick , it looks too close to Marion, Marie etc

theemmadilemma · 10/05/2023 15:27

Slightly offtopic, but DH is French.

He has a friend who's name sounds very exotic in French. Until I realised it was Cyrill. 😂

LoveTheDramaMick · 10/05/2023 15:09

Someone said Marius, I'd call off the search and use that. Really strong sounding name and can't see anything to make it not work in the UK.

AuntieJune · 10/05/2023 15:01

Names that only sound right when pronounced with a French accent seem a bit daft if you live in UK?

I'd go for something that works in both -
Felix
Daniel
Louis
Nathan
Sacha
Aaron

There's a whole list here https://namerology.com/baby-name-atlas/most-popular-boys-names-in-france/

Or do you want something that announces Frenchness, like Pierre etc?

Most Popular Boys' Names in France : Namerology

Gabriel Louis Raphaël Jules Adam Lucas Léo Hugo Arthur Nathan Liam Ethan Maël Paul Tom Sacha Noah Gabin Nolan Enzo Mohamed Aaron Timéo Théo Mathis Axel Victor Antoine Valentin Martin Noé Eden Robin Marius Rayan Clément Baptiste Maxime Samuel Léon Yanis...

https://namerology.com/baby-name-atlas/most-popular-boys-names-in-france