English/French names please, esp. boys..!

[CSLewis]

I'm pregnant with my 6th, have a feeling it's a boy tho still fairly early days, and want to start getting some ideas together. I'm English but like quite unusual names, my husband's half-French but is way more boring traditional when it comes to names. Sigh.

I also quite like longer names, so if anyone knows any 3+ syllable boys (or girls) names that work in both French and English, please let me know! I like Alexandre (and love Sacha as a nickname), but DH not that keen. Can't have Maximilian cos of close family. Any others..?

Etienne? Ok it is just out and out French but it's just such a handsome name. And not difficult to pronounce. French form of Richard (I think?)

The French for of Richard is Richard. Etienne is Stephen.

• form

I love sebastien, spelt the French way.

Dominic
Dimitri
Sebastien
Benjamin
Olivier
Xavier
Christophe
Nicolas
Damien
Nathaniel
Fabien
Gabriel
Tristian
Frederic
...

Google "prénoms garçon"

It's not that easy if you want them spelt the same way. I wanted names which were spelt the same in English and French (so no accents etc.) which really reduces the list of possible names and then they don't particularly sound French anyway!

badtime I knew that wasn't right,just couldn't think of the right name. Never did French at school see

Not nec 3 syllables but

Henri
Edmond
Gilles
Guy
Quentin
Martin
Benedict
Isaie

I like:
Antoine
Pierre
Édouard
Emile
Florian

And names like Florentin, Corentin, Valentin etc are popular right now.

Oh, duh. Didn't notice you only wanted 3-syllable names. sorry!

A word of warning re Alexandre; we picked that as our boy name but DC2 turned out to be a DD. I have since found out that a lot of non native French kids struggle to pronounce it properly and so it is often mis pronounced Alexand rrrrre (IYSWIM) sounding very similar to Alexandra. DD1's friend is Alexandre but attends an English speaking school and went through a period of being bullied for having a "girls name". I do love the name though.

And to add to your list,
Christophe
Christian
Eliott

Julien
Florian
Antoine
Vincent
Edouard
Léopold
Léonard
Thibault
Christian

Another word of warning though, I went to school with a "Denis" (French mum) who ALWAYS had to correct the teachers that it wasn't "Dennis"

You could always go really French with:
Jean-Jacques
Jean-François
Pierre-Paul
Jean-Baptiste

But they're still pronouncable by English speakers

I love Corentin, I suggest it all of the time! Also think Nicholas (or Nicolas), Beau and Mathias are nice

Thanks, everyone. I already have a Sebastien. Quite like Dominic, and Emile, tho I have a niece called Emily...

I like Nicolas in French but not with the English pronunciation. Quite like Matthias - is that just a different form of Matthieu?

If I had an Alexandre he would be Alex (or Sacha) for short, so hopefully we'd avoid too much 'girls' name-calling!

Keep 'em coming...

I have a very lovely Corentin (19yo DSS) and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Matthias

Some more names from my kids' friends and my friends' kids:

Adrien
Clément
Grégoire
Gabriel (my best friend's baby)
Mathieu
Augustin
Quentin
Romain
Benoît
Emilien
Yoann
Yannick
Calixte
Aubin
Baptiste
Bastien
Emmanuel
Nathanaël
Raphaël
Dorian
Gaspard
Gautier
Cyprien
Flavien
Thibaud
Pierrick
Ambroise

How about these for longer boys names:
Constantin
Thaddeus
Augustin

Exactly same issue here! Some we've considered:

Jean-Jacques
Thibauld
Raphael
Marius
Sylvester
Remy

Celeste
Marcella
Aurelia
Claudette
Mirabelle

Raphael is a strong boy's name- I love it!

Us too... hard to find something that sounds right on a baby in both languages (i.e. that doesn't sound like a forty-year-old in one or other). We've settled on something Breton/Celtic.

Calixte
I'm curious about this - I've only ever heard it as a girl's name. Never encountered Thaddeus - wouldn't be very easy to pronounce.

Cuillère, Callixte is one of those names which is truly unisex in French! It's the French version of the Latin name Callixtus (there was a pope Callixtus, or Callisto in Italian, I believe), but also of the feminine form Callista. I've only ever met male ones, though - and only a couple of those!

I hear you on the problem finding names which are current in both languages. I cringe when I read threads looking for French names and people suggest Danielle, Georgette, Geneviève etc.

Thaddeus is pronounced Tah- day- us (at least the one I know pronounces it that way).