A sister for Nathaniel

[nathanielssister]

NC for this as am a regular and this is a bit outing!

My DS, Nathaniel, is going to have a little sister in a few weeks and we can't find a name. I'd like her to have something that's similar, i.e. not yoonique but you don't come across it every day either. It absolutely has to exist already!

DH is French so ideally it needs to be spelled the same in English and French and have a vaguely similar sound. Faith for example wouldn't work, because of the -th sound. And it can't be rude in the other language. DH suggested Fanny but obviously that wouldn't be great these days in English.

DH is big into old cinema and his eyes lit up when I suggested Scarlett (O'Hara, not Johansson) a few weeks back but he's gone off it now and I can't find anything else I like that comes close.

So far we've got Clementine and Lauren but need more ideas. He says Nicole is too dated in a French, while I'm not a fan of vintage English names like Ethel.

So, over to you, lovely MNers! Hit me!

Eloise
Celeste
Delphine
Madeleine
Agnes

Jemima

Isabelle

Martha/Marta
Françoise
Lille
Adeline
Celine
Mathilde
Josephine
Angeline
Beatrice
Marceline
Clarette
Aude
Camille
Madaleine
Victoria
Juliet
Noemie
Celeste
Genevieve
Charlotte
Delphine

Chloe

"DH suggested Fanny"

🤣

He does speak English, right?!

My DH is French too and we have a friend called Fanny, I do have to suppress childish amusement sometimes (a highlight was when he messaged me to say that Fanny was in labour )

I'm pregnant with a girl too and you might be interested in my thread about bilingual names
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby_names/3891006-Bilingual-girls-names-please-rate-my-list

PS I love Clementine

Madeleine

Agnes is good. Or Ines?

Leonie
Mathilde (I think most English-speaking people would know how to pronounce this)
Ingrid
Mariella
Beatrice
Damaris

Clementine is lovely

Vivien? For the actress who played Scarlett O’Hara.

Or Golden Age feisty actress names like Elizabeth, Katharine, Audrey etc.

Or more modern feisty screen heroines like Ellen ( Ripley) ?

Felicity
Colette
Madeline
Roxanne
Coralie
Noelle
Annabelle
Rosalie
Gabrielle

Cosette?

Alexandra. Louisa. Catrina. Jessica.

Alice
Josephine

Elodie
Eloise
Elise
Lucie
Louise
Sophie
Adele
Adeline
Angelique
Stephanie
Sylvie
Dominique
Celeste
Celestine
Zoe
Madeleine
Amelie
Estelle
Claudine
Vanessa

Faye
Freya

Faye is lovely but doesn't really work in French.
Freya is a bit like frayeur.

Emmeline?

Vivienne and Ellen are great (Ellen might be more 'El-EN' in French as opposed to 'ELLun' in English).

How about something very simple like Emma or Lucie?

Lucie
Sophie/Sophia
Isabelle
Phoebe
Vivienne
Audrey
Lana
Juliette
Ruby
Celestine
Hattie (Harriet?)

Simone

Ophelie French or Ophelia

Marianne
Clemence/ Clemency

Thanks for all the posts so far! Lots of names coming up that we've already discussed and can't agree on, or already have in our close family.

Since we live in France, I think I'd like a name that seems more English in origin, as a nod to her having a British parent. It has to be easily recognised by the French though, for example Emma or Lara (absolutely love Lara but DH says it doesn't work with our surname).

For me, Delphine and Camille are too French. Juliet (like) will spend her life correcting people who've spelled it Juliette (dislike) and I know what an utter pain that is.

I'm leaning more and more towards Clementine thanks to those of you who said they like it! I don't know if perhaps it's more French than English but it was good enough for Mrs Churchill back in the day, so that works for me. And as with her big brother, the spelling is the same in both languages even if the pronunciation is a little different.

Any more suggestions from you lovey lot?