Help me find a French girls' name

[thrillahkillah]

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.

My very favourite French name is Emmeline, in fact it is one of my favourite names ever, but sadly I can't convince DH.
From your list I love in order of preference Anna, Rose, Lucie, Annabel/le, Stephanie, Valerie (this is least favourite because I hate the nn Val and apologies but I don't know how to do the accent symbol)

Oh and I forgot to mention another two favourites:
Leonie
Sidonie

I'm in the same position as you: DH is French and we need something that can cross over into both languages. We're having a girl too, so we really need to make a decision on this!

You names are lovely, and the ones suggested are also very sweet. I'm a teacher, so I get your DH's whole association thing too. I would say though, that your potential daughter is going to scrap any association with anyone you know with the same name. I've actually got names of some kids who are in my classes on my short list, not because they're lovely girls but because we like the names and they go well with our surname.

My only comment is to see what comes organically, you have plenty of time to see what sits with you both.

We went to see The Artist the other day, and DH thought that Bérénice would be a lovely name for wee buba. I'm not convinced as it would become Berry-nice in English!

Bonne chance!

Yvonne
Valerie
Amelie
Sylvie

lovely names - Lucie and Anna are my faves with Adela/Adele as mn respectively

Celeste
Sylvie again
Carine

I love Manon - it's on our list for DC2. You have to swallow the second n so it's a soft sound, not a hard n. If you have ever seen the film Manon Des Sources you will see why the name appeals: feminine and feisty.

I like Lucie and Eloise.

I love Elodie and Fleur.

How nice to have so many pretty names to choose from, good luck!

Vagine

Pronounced "Va-jin-ee" like Virginie

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

Violette

Vagine..or "FouFou" for short

Or Vag for short. Beautiful.

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

Manon

Ottoline

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?

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.

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?

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

Claudette
Delphine
Marie-france

Claudine
Therese

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

Amelie is also very pretty

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

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

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.