Finding choosing a name and impossible task

[princesslina]

I have decided I do not know how people do it! It is such an important decision and two grown ups have to come to an agreement and dh and I are very different in our tastes! Not only that we are not finding out if baby is a boy or a girl and we are in France and so have three days to register birth post birth and thus choose a name ..... HELP!!

I would like something unusual bot not so much so it is really really trendy or really really wierd!

Any suggestions, boys or girls, gratefully received ... oh and also need to sound nice when said with a French accent!

THANKS!

I had a French pen pal called Aurora. I love that name but couldn't use it in the UK. There are so many pretty French names. Some of my favourites:

Celeste
Céline
Isabelle

Oops, sorry, forgot about the boys names!

Henry/Henri
Louis
Alexander/re

Celeste is lovely, yes.

Estelle
Solange
Thea
Sylvie

Etienne
Lucien

What types of names do you like that don't necessarily work in French?

My fave are: Clothilde, Pascale, Penelope, Agathe, Constance,
Marcel, Yves Marie, Claude...

I think Marcel and Claude both tend to conjure up the image of fat old chaps in string vests. I wouldn't mind that particularly, but I expect not everyone would agree.

Anna works well in many languages, including English and French. I know/have known several Anglo-European families who have DDs named Emma, Ella, Gabriella, Charlotte, Stella, Sophia, Suzanne/a too.

For boys they have - Paul, Daniel, Milo, Richard,, Charles, David, Christophe (although I know the English mother of a french/english family, living in France who insisted that their DS was Matthew and not Matthieu, and has spent the last 10 years spelling it out. What I think I am saying, is be careful if you pick a name that has a similar pronounciation but similar spelling in the different languages).

haha, I have the opposite problem: French name working in the UK/US.

If you live in France, I would avoid any "th" sound (it will NEVER be pronounced the English way), "ew" and "i" (will be pronounced "ee"). Bartholomew and Matthew are just not French-friendly at all.

Some ideas:
Astrid
Constance
Juliet
Charlotte
Sophie, Sophia
Alix
Alice
Anais
Marina
Sibyl
Lucy
Clara
Solene
Emily
Esther
Josephine
Naomi
Rose
Flavia
Alexandra
Alexa
Adele, Adela
Saskia
Ariane, Ariana
Louise

Henri
Ludovic
Louis ("lou-ee": same in both languages)
Paul
Alex
Victor
Axel
Marc
Stanislas
Tobias
Noah
Joseph
Sacha
Ezra
Raphael
Hector

Thanks for all the ideas so far ... does not need to be a 'French' name just sound good pronounced both ways for example I quite like Grace but not pronounced in French! Also looking for something a bit more unusual. I like Malvolio shortened to Mal but Mal is not great in French ... meaning hurt for example. Anything like Lucy, Emily etc etc is a bit traditional for me, I prefer names like Willow, India, Orla, Isla, Darwin, Arlo, dh likes Crosby, Branford, suggested Cannonball ... yes Cannonball as in Adderly one of his pref Jazz musicians!
Quite like Ezra and Ariane from the above lists but don't think DH would!
Finding it quite stressful that we only have 3 days to register, I always believed I would need to see the baby, spend some time with it before choosing a name as it is such a personal thing ... now I think we will have to have a shortlist and hope there is one on that that will suit the little one when they arrive ... if I could I would come to the UK to give birth!

Orla and Arlo work fine with French pronunciation.
There you go, and ignore DH, he isn't the one giving birth

Fabienne
Otillie
Aurelia
Freya
Aimee

Fabien
Otis
Oscar
Lucas

Quite like Aurelia and like Luca but it is becoming really common now so sort of ruled it out as would like something more unusual. Just adding Vienna as a reminder to myslef as same it on another thread and don't want to forget!
Cannot rule DH out of decision making process, he is being such an amazing support all round it is just that we are quite different when it comes to matters of taste and he is quite eccentric in a wonderful way! (But Cannonball is definately off the table ... yes DH even for a middle name!)

Anything here?

What are you meant to do if you are still in hospital after 3 days (I was both times). Can you register the baby in hospital?

India, Isla, Orla would work well in France, the others would be seen as very weird (especially Arlo or Crosby/Cannonball).
Grace is ideal bullying material in France: pronounced the French way it is very close to "grasse", meaning "fat, oily". Even worse than Mal.

Erin, Elie, Ella, Iris, Isis, Eva/Ava/Evie, Gaia, Nina, Luna, Maia, Valentina work well too.

Boys: Tom, Tim, Jonas, Nils/Niels, Connor, Ezio/Enzo (Italian)

BikeRunSki: The father is supposed to register the baby. If he cannot do it/there is not one known, it is done by any member of the medical team who has attended the birth (sorry for the bad translation..).

The good thing about giving birth in the US is that the French Civil code gives me 30 days to make up my mind.

I think that suggesting Cannonball may well be enough to legally remove your Dh's naming rights

Thanks Magdalena there are a couple of girls names I like there taht I will add to my list, still nothing that really jumps out to me and says that's my favourite ... they are more that would do!
Hsve just ordered two more baby neam books that's four now 2 english and 2 french!

That is great and if you need an opinion about how it will be pronounced in French/French associations with the name, I would be happy to help.
Have fun going through the books! (I know I had :o )

Thanks for the offer Magdalena, I have been living in France for 15 years and pretty fluent in French with many French friends (not your usual ex pat! ... well certainly around us anyway) so should be OK but I really appreciate the offer. I am now going to work on DH to be more open minded about names like Arlo, Orla, India, Willow etc

For a girl:
Camille, Coco, Estelle, Lois, Lola, Amelie

For a boy:
Lucian, Sylvan, Jacques, Henri, Georges

Sorry forgot Louis and Chloe!

I like Louis. I know a few - English and French - and they are all lovely.

Iona, Franziska, Liberty.

Markus, Maxi, Xavier.

Love Xavier.

I like Iona and Liberty, already have Amelie on my list, I like Lola but for some reason it makes me think of ladies of the night, I like Coco too but nt sure if it is a bit pretentious?