Classic names that work in French and English

[HPandbean]

DH and I are struggling to think of classic (but not dull) names to compliment our unusual surname. The other thing is we have immediate family in France and baby will spend time there so we’d like the name to work in French and English. Our current favourites are Alexander and Madeleine but we’d love some more ideas.

For a girl DH likes Anna and Sophie which are nice but...meh... they don’t excite me! We both like Sophia and Isobel/Isabella but they wouldn’t work for us as they’re being used by family and friends.

For boys, we are stuck! Help

Thank you x

Eleanor

We decided on names that are spelt the same (and no accents), not caring that pronounciation is different.

The DC have no problems with that whatsoever. From a very young age, DS2 has always said DS1's name with the accent of whatever language he was then going to continue the conversation in. Very cute.

Some ideas: Arthur, Benjamin, Charles, Jules, Dominic, Damien, Adam, Joseph, Sebastien, Gustave, Auguste, Louis, Thomas

Charlotte, Emilie, Catherine, Sophie/Sophia, Alice, Iris, Florence,

Ella
Charlie
Rafael
Ludo

(From my French friends with non French kids names, we also have a Mathilde and a Louis-Gerard but those are fairly French)

Louis-Gerard "fairly French"
Now that's English understatement for you

Alice
Louise
Alexandra
Maude
Angélique

Sebastien
Raphael
Robert
Louis
Jeremy

Jacqueline

Just thought of another. Adele. I know a French one and it works equally well in English.

Not mentioned yet but;
Patrick
Robert

Be careful with some of the names suggested - in French they should have accents (Raphaël and Adèle for example). It doesn't really matter if your DC are only going to be referred to in spoken French with no official written documents, but if they are going to have documents then it adds a complication.

How about :

Mark / Marc
Jacques / Jack
Kévin
Théodore
Thomas
Alex (too bad Alexis is a girl name in english... That's my brother's name)
Adam
Adrien
Alfred
Anthony
Benjamin
Bertrand
Christian / Christophe
Colin
Damien
Dominique
Dorian (have seen it used in France)
Eric
Gregory
Hugo
Lucas
Max
Martin
Paul
Raphael
Robert
Roland
Samuel
Victor

Mary / Marie
Emma
Emily
Liliane
Alina
Adele
Anne
Barbara
Camille
Caroline
Catherine
Charlotte
Christine
Helen
Mélanie
Miranda
Pauline
Rose
Samantha
Sarah

We met an English boy called Jean-Pierre on holiday in Italy a couple of years ago. He introduced himself to my kids as JP and they played together for a while. A woman approached calling "Jean-Pierre! Jean-Pierre!" In an English accent. He turned bright red and ignored her until she got really close and then muttered about it being JP...

I wouldn't go for a very, very French name unless you are actually French.

Also some of the names will be the French equivalent of calling your child Terry or Nigel or Steve or Carol or Sue or Tracy, as in they'll be names associated with particular decades. If you're aware of that and do it anyway it's one thing, but a bit rubbish to do to a child by mistake if you'll be spending time in France regularly.

Also some of the names will be the French equivalent of calling your child Terry or Nigel or Steve or Carol or Sue or Tracy,

Well, her spouse is French so presumably he'd know these things.

Yes, some of the names suggested are of a certain generation but I didn't point that out as I figured the OP's DH will!

Ben

Good point about association of names.

If possible, test them with the French side of the family.

My French friend living in England sent me a list of possible names for my take on them.

Idem, an English friend living in France asked a colleague for his view on her list of names.

DH is French and some of the names I floated he had strong reactions against. I didn't know the cultural associations, despite living here for 8 years at that point.

There are also the "old man/lady" names that can make a comeback. And some that really really can't.... and they are not the same as our English names! (who knew that Imogen isn't a good idea in France?!)

It's a shame there's no French equivalent of Mumsnet - I did find one or two baby name forums but you don't get the same volume or blunt honesty of responses

Luckily DH has a friend from home who's a primary school teacher, so he swore her to secrecy and ran our top choice past her. She approved but I do wonder if she was just being polite!

We are Fr/Eng and had the same issue. We only had boys so went for Hugo and Sebastien.

Malyshek not necessarily if he's been living outside France for years and only been back to visit. My German DH swore blind Emily wasn't a name used in Germany, and it turned out it was in the top 10 in Germany the year we were choosing a girl's name...

Asking his family, especially ones who have young children themselves, would shed light but they might not want to open the can of worms which is discussing name choices with extended family...

I bought an excellent French baby name book which was much better than any of the English ones I looked at.

Those are good points, I'm French and have been living in various countries, and I couldn't tell you what names are currently the top 10 in France. On the other hand I do know that for instance Geneviève is a granny's name back home (I definitely associate it with older women). I was surprised by how popular it seems to be on this forum...

Personally I love Fabien for a boy.
Josephine or Genevieve for a girl.

On the other hand I do know that for instance Geneviève is a granny's name back home (I definitely associate it with older women).

I don’t think it matters. Mirabeau I associate with 60+ women but I love the name so I don’t care. In Italy Cosima is Southern granny’s name - but I love that too.

Granny names can be reclaimed if they’re nice - Lily, Flora, Clara, Nancy, Violet, Eve etc

Not keen on Geneviève anyway.

I don’t think it matters. Mirabeau I associate with 60+ women but I love the name so I don’t care. In Italy Cosima is Southern granny’s name - but I love that too.

I agree - if you like the name you should use it. But it's better to make an informed decision rather than risk being disappointed later.

And it also depends where you live. If you live in NZ you can call your baby Geneviève and it won't carry the same meaning.

Emma was the number one girl's name in France last year, having knocked Louise from the first place it held for several years, Jade was in third place, with other popular names being Alice, Chloé, Léa, and Manon.
For boys, the top three names were Gabriel, Louis and Raphaël, followed by Leo, Lucas, Jules, Adam, Arthur, Nathan and Hugo.

A long time favourite of mine is Leonie, which no doubt is seen as an "old lady" name, but Jeanne was my grandmother's name and is now close to the top ten, so as in the UK, some "old lady" are still loved.

The book I got was L'Officiel des prénoms, it was great. Lots of ideas and stats.