Sister for Monique

[BerryMood]

We have Monique Elle and love sophisticated, grown up French names. What do you think of Vivienne Marie? Monique and Vivienne? Is Vivienne too frilly?

We don't like little baby cutie names, flower names, too popular or novelty names. We would like something you don't hear every day, but still an easily recognizable name in English language. Strong but feminine.

Any suggestions?

Vivien less frilly.
Raquel

Vivienne is lovely.
What about:
Camille
Estee
Colette
Claudine
Ettienne

Unique?

Sorry OP. Couldn't resist

I think Vivienne is lovely . Also love Emphatic's suggestion of Camille.

Josephine? Delphine? Love both of these.

Vivian or Vivien is the male version of Vivienne!

I think Monique and Vivienne sound wonderful together.

Adele?
Mireille?

Vivienne is my favorite girls name ever. Really feminine.

Thank you so much. I like a couple of the suggested names but probably not as much as Vivienne. Looks like MNers like Vivienne too. What a relief!

Ettienne is a lovely name emphatic, I like Vivienne too, but in terms of nn, I don't like Viv so much.

What nn for Vivienne do you like?

I don't know really. Maybe just try to stick to the full name? Hard in my family - everyone has nn!

I like full names you can't shorten, like Monique , so it won't be a problem not to have a nn. Although I don't mind Viv either, I know lots of people are not very keen on it. I'm not sure about Vivi though, does it sound too close to wee wee?

I know a Vivienne! Her nn is Vivi (pronounced VeeVee as opposed to Vivvi). It really suits her.

Love Vivienne and Camille.

Monique & Vivienne are beautiful together.

Also really like Cecily and I have a 16 mo Elodie, which is my favourite name ever, but that might be a bit too girly for your tastes.

French speaker here...

Vivienne has a nice sound to it but the most common version of the name in France/French-speaking countries is actually Viviane - Vivienne is extremely rare. Vivien is a male name in French. Not saying you have to pick the version the French would pick but I thought you might want to know!

Camille is a lovely name, considering it for a future DD. Of the other names mentioned, Etienne (only one T!) is a male name, and Colette/Claudine are VERY 50s/60s in France, not saying this should sway you if you like them, but they're the equivalent of something like Sharon here.

Thanks Ruby, very interesting to know. I haven't come across Viviane before!

I think Vivien looks the nicest. Viviane would be open to all sorts of mangling.

Yes GiveMe VIVien looks less frilly, but it's a male name and I prefer the stress on the last syllable as in ViviENNE, this way it sounds much softer. I agree Viviane has a more complicated spelling for an English speaker, and although I'm drawn to the fact the French would pick it, I don't want the struggle to have to spell it out to people all the time.

I must admit the amount of available versions of the same name puts me off a bit, didn't have this problem with Monique.

Josephine?

Leonie, to nick from another thread?

I wouldn't use a male spelling or man's name.

I think most people (me included) would pronounce it like vivien (with the stress on VIV) even if it's spelt Vivienne.
How about Estelle?

Love ALL these names