Baby Girl Fabienne

[Owlshaped]

I am a raging Francophile, so for us, names were always expected to draw from the French. However, we have not wanted to plague her with typical English mis-pronounciation, raised eyebrows yada yada. So we have been skirting round Amelie, Mathilda, Madeleine etc (all of which we love) but Fabienne has just really struck a chord with me recently and I wanted some honest opinions on the name really ... So fire away! :)

I have to say i prefer Amelie which is a beautiful name or Madeline..sorry!

Fabienne is gorgeous - classy, elegant, feminine and not overused. Works well in most languages too!

Amelie, Mathilda and Madeleine are very widely used already and seem a little dull in comparison.

I like Fabienne - easy to pronounce in English and French.

MUCH nicer than the overused Amelie or Matilda imo.

*Pronunciantion...

I do think Amelie is gorgeous, but with previous comment, they do seem to be quite widely used! Oh its so tough!! I could name a rugbyteam of boys!! I love any names with the 'ienne' ending, (Vivienne I think is a beaut but OH hates the possible nickname "Viv"!!)

I didn't realise that Amelie was very popular.

Madeline is lovely, might get shortened to Maddy though, do you like that??
Although i prefer it to Fabienne evamummy is right it is a very classy and elegant name.

I do like Maddie a lot, I think its very cutsie, as with Mattie (more than Tillie/Tilda). I know an Amelie through a friend, which isn't a problem but having checked out the ONS website, does seem to have gained popularity. I do think its one of those 'go to' French names as well. Also the Multiple spellings of Madeleine mean there are quite a few kicking about. I know I'm never going to have anything totally unique, (without making up something dreadful haha) but I do seem to be striving for something a little more out the box...thank you for all comments so far, they are all much appreciated.

Fabienne is lovely. Would go a treat with DS1 who is Fabian!

Love Fabienne. What a lovely name.

Thee are gazillions of Amelie/Mathilda/Madeleines in the UK. Fabienne is much nicer!

My other fave French names:

Sylvie
Delphine
Anias
Manon
Agathe
Elodie
Cecile

Fabienne is a lovely refreshing change from all the little Amelies, Ellies, Milly, Tillys, Maddies around here.... Great choice - gor for it!

I'm not very keen on Fabienne. But I like Vivienne. And Celine.

Is it Fabby-enn or Fay-bee-enn?

See I would have gone with Fah-bee-YEHN. I think the emphasis needs to be on the Enne. Middle name is likely to be Elizabeth, (well it is Jubilee year) so nickname would be based around Betsy!
I do love that it means bean grower though (ever since we found out we were expecting, and before we knew the sex, we always referred to the bean haha!)

i like Fabienne very much. strong and feminine, not frilly.

i will say that some might think you've given her a boy's name, since Fabian is fairly well known in English and we are much less keen on feminizing male names in this culture iyswim.

that wouldn't be enough to stop me, but to some it might be offputting. i know my DH would balk for example.

about pronounciation, as i understand it, French prns are less rhythmic that English prns. i.e. i think it's fab-i-enne, not FAB-ienne or fab-I-enne or fab-i-ENNE iyswim. there's basically an equal stress on each syllable.

owlshaped i like it that way, Fah-been-YEHN

I know a Fabienne, she is dutch/far eastern. She pronounces it Fab-ee-enna.

Fabienne is lovely. I know of a two year old Fabienne. Tho' it is clearly very unusual in the UK. I like Isaline...

Oh, Fabienne is fabulous. I love French names and this is one of the best. Do it, do it, do it

Like Fabienne. Not Isaline though, too similar to petroleum jelly.

Beautiful name!
Also love Sabine.

Very good friend called Fabienne - strong, beautiful name; strong, beautiful woman.

Also very good friend called Sabine, proud and romantic name (to my ears), lovely, awesome, heart-warming friend.

Go for it with either one, I say !

I knew a lovely little girl named Fabienne. Nothing but good associations. Nice name!

Love!

Thanks for all the contributions, i wasn't expecting so many lovely comments about the name and its definitely the last contender now. (We're not going to name her till we see her and know for sure!!) But I'm really confident about this one. Thanks all :)

Dd2 has a friend called Fabienne. She's called Fabbi, or Fabsimet, on special occasions.

Wonderful! I love it but DH would never agree.