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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

French boys names that work in the UK

54 replies

ch1134 · 20/02/2015 20:10

Hi,
I'm after suggestions for French boys names that work in the UK please.
I want them to work in both and not sound overly 'French'.
For example, I like but can't use: Louis, Fabien and Maurice.
Less keen on 'Jean-Pierre'...
Ideas gratefully received! Thanks.

OP posts:
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Bowlersarm · 20/02/2015 20:11

Nicholas

jazzyjenbo · 20/02/2015 20:12

Luke/luka/lucas
Renee
Sebastian
John
Pearce

NutellaLawson · 20/02/2015 20:20

Marc or marcel
Luc
Charles
Olivier
Alain
Damien
Emile
Christophe
Gerard
Nicolas

Of course pronunciation would be different. Probably best to avoid anything that sounds feminine in English (Michel or Dominique, say )

HainaultViaNewburyPark · 20/02/2015 20:24

Alain, Alexis, Guy, Charles, Henri, Olivier, Thierry, Xavier?

Original poster
ch1134 · 20/02/2015 20:26

All along the right lines. Thank you! Still waiting for one to grab me... closest is Xavier.

OP posts:
Yika · 20/02/2015 20:28

Matthias
Andre
Bastien
Victor
Guillaume
Eric

NimpyWWindowmash · 20/02/2015 20:29

Raphael

Artandco · 20/02/2015 20:35

Acel
Alix
Leonard
Elliott
Tristan

puppy123 · 20/02/2015 20:42

Bruno? Better with French accent!

shopperholic101 · 20/02/2015 20:43

Maxim
Xavier is lovely too

BikeRunSki · 20/02/2015 21:03

Vincent
Luke
Nicholas
Paul
Victor

PunkAssMoFo · 20/02/2015 22:22

Benedict
Emmanuel
Austen
Curtis
Clement

nailslikeknives · 20/02/2015 22:27

Another vote for Xavier.
Love it!
But not pronounced the X-Men way!!

Lemonsole · 20/02/2015 22:30

Benedict doesn't work in French - unless you're a girl. The male equivalent is Benoit.

MaraThonbar · 20/02/2015 22:30

Sebastian / Sebastien
Cédric
Benoît, nn Ben
YY to Maxim, or Maxence, nn Max
I loooove Etienne but perhaps too French?

Rivercam · 20/02/2015 22:35

Pierre
Piers
Marco
Luca
Lucien
Charles

sophie150 · 20/02/2015 22:39

I love xavier but would be worried about him being called x-zayveeyer like in x men.
I wasn't sure whether Za-vyer sounds a bit pretentious in English?
Love Sebastien also

Branleuse · 20/02/2015 22:41

Félix

BikeRunSki · 20/02/2015 22:41

The Anglo-French boys/men I know are

Alex (Alexandre)
David
Thomas
Jaques
Ben (Benoit)
Sebastian
Patrick
Paul
Christophe
Henri
Olivier
Flo (Florian - need to be pretty tough to pull this off in UK I reckon)
Laurent (nn Ronnie)

I love Louis, I know one who spends a great deal of time telling people he's not called Lewis though.

Alisvolatpropiis · 20/02/2015 23:16

Etienne

Yika · 20/02/2015 23:50

Christian
Jules
Remy
Jerome

Sophronia · 21/02/2015 00:37

Lucas
Tristan
Leo
Gabriel
Nathan
Hugo
Raphael
Arthur
Thomas
Julien
Remy
David
Lucien
Felix
Leon
Vincent

Qwebec · 21/02/2015 01:37

I live in a francophone land and Benedict is a unisex name.

easy place to look for names that work all over Europe: biblical names.

also
Jonathan
Jonas
Julian/Julien
Maxim-e
Jacob
Loïc
Frederick
Patrick
Mederick

Original poster
ch1134 · 21/02/2015 07:14

Great ideas, thanks!
Xav, maybe pretentious yes, and my husband says no anyway!

OP posts:
PrintScreen · 21/02/2015 08:00

Arthur is v popular in both France and England at the mo. In France it is pronounced Artour.

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