Gavroche or Fantine

[capucine]

What do you think about :
Fantine for a girl
Gavroche for a boy

[EvilTwins]

If you're going to name your child after a character in a musical, go for a Sondheim show - far more cultured...

[Mahraih]

I quite like Fantine ... but having recently been educated as to the 'children bully kids with strange names' thing, I have to say, I would have called that child 'Fanta'.

Unless you have the surname to carry it off?

[Shaz10]

Please do the playground test on these names.

[expatinscotland]

DD1 met a French girl her own age (she was 6 then) called Faustine and I thought it was gorgeous.

[SoupDragon]

Um, there are better French names.

[diplomatic]

[saucetastic]

How about Victor or Hugo?

Even Esmerelda from Notre Dame is better than the f names from his Les Mis.

[amothersplaceisinthewrong]

In answer to the question

Both names are naff in the extreme. Devoid of all class

[saucetastic]

• f was meant to mean female - realise it could have been misconstrued

[PosieParker]

eeewwww, I like neither....but then you probably wouldn't like my dcs names either.

[mopsyflopsy]

How popular are both Fantine and Gavroche in France at the moment?

[00000000000000]

really really awful names. truly.

[breatheslowly]

Gavroche is a restaurant. I have just read the wikipedia summary of Fantine and don't think I would give my child a name with such a horrible association. Try googling names and see if you like the connotations.

[Pasiphae]

Fantine I think is okay. I do a know a French woman called Fantine and she lives with this very well... ;P

Gavroche is just too associated with Les Mis and even in France they would find that choice "weird".

[mrspir8]

Not a fan of les mis, never seen it or read it. I'm not particularly uncultured or anything so I think many will not have heard of them too in which case the connotations are:

"Fantine" just sounds like a diet version of the popular orange fizzy drink

Gavroche is the name of Michel Rouxs' restaurant.

[5DollarShake]

Fantine isn't disastrous (that's the best I can say about it). Gavroche, on the other hand...

Imagine your 5yo Gavroche telling his friends his name on the first day of school.

Imagine him doing the same at 13.

Imagine him wanting to be taken seriously- introducing himself at an interview for his first job...

Plus, he'll just get called Gav by everyone (alright Gav?), and I have a tiny little hunch that that's pretty much the exact opposite sort of name you'd like bestowed on your son.

[muggglewump]

I honestly did think about Eponine. I love that name, but didn't use it.

If I ever get a kitten she'll be called it. (I have a girl cat but got her already named)

[5DollarShake]

I could never personally go down the Eponine route as it's just too close to the biggest pisstake ever of 'yooniq' names.

[muggglewump]

Luckily I didn't then, funnily enough, her Dad is Australian!

[GladioliBuckets]

Fantine is a pretty tragic character, maybe not as bad as Dulcinea/Aldonza in Man of La Mancha (the only musical with a gang rape I believe?)

Gavroche is just too effeminate sounding.

[catherinewho]

Fantine had friends in the book called Favourite (yuck!), Dahlia and Zephine (short for Josephine).

Cosette's real name was Euphrasie and she had a doll called Catherine.

Eponine had a sister called Azelma.

I can't think of any other girls names from the book to be honest (that aren't really horrible anyway).

[LittleSilver]

Please no, just no.

[DoNotFeedMeBiscuits]

gladioli - there is implied gang rape of Anita in west side story IIRC.

sorry, as you were.

[sugarapplelane]

I think Fantine is really pretty, but pronouned in the correct (French) way. If pronounced fantine, as in fanta, it sounds horrific...

[NettoSuperstar]

Zombie thread, but I see I posted on it as Muggglewump.
I have the cat called Eponine now!