Names which work in French and English

[Lexylizard]

We have a list of names which might work in French and English (oh Is French), albeit not many boys names. Which do you like, or have you any to add?

Mathilde (Tilly)
Maeva (Maeve)
Emeline
Florence
Elodie (Edie)
Cecile

Hugo
Miles

Nicole.

Obviously

I know a couple of French English families in the UK, mainly in London with children called

Celeste
Florence
Sophie

Quentin
Louis
Frederic

Adore Maeve and Elodie.. I’d go for one of those for sure! ❤️

How about Theo?

Philippe
Hubert
Alain
Louis
Edouard
David

Louis is lovely.
Anton?
Laurent?
Chloe
Miriam

I was at school with a Jeanne, everyone had no trouble with the pronunciation and she was so cool. 😍

Louisa and Miriam work well with your last name. What about Luca for a boy?

We're living in England. My OH likes Manon, but it would be pronounced Man-on in English, which I don't think sounds great! It sounds lovely in French. I find almost all names sound lovely in French. Not so much in English.

I wouldn't use Elodie because it is getting quite popular here, and although it is pretty in a French accent, it sounds Melody without the M here. Quite meh.

Manon would rhyme with Shannon here.

@Lexylizard

We're living in England. My OH likes Manon, but it would be pronounced Man-on in English, which I don't think sounds great! It sounds lovely in French. I find almost all names sound lovely in French. Not so much in English.

That's exactly my worry about Manon. I guess it all depends if we/she ever moves back to England whether it would be an issue for us. I really don't like Man-on. Though maybe once people are told the right pronunciation they might make the effort?

Chloe is quite high on our list too - I think it sounds lovely in both languages!

I love love love Maeva

Antoinette
Marguerite
Both work well in England or France.
I really love Fleur, it's been mentioned earlier.

I also have a French DH and we live in the UK. We have a DS and expecting a DD. We know lots of bilingual families. As a general rule I think the "classic" names work best as they're well known in both countries/languages and easy for both sides to pronounce.

Mathilde (Tilly) - ok
Maeva (Maeve) - don't think the French will get on particularly well with this
Emeline - isn't it Emmeline?
Florence - love (def my fave from your list)
Elodie (Edie) - like Elodie but not Edie, there are loads and I dislike the trend for old fashioned names in general and Edie in particular
Cecile - too French for my taste

Hugo - pronounced very differently due to the H, I would avoid
Miles - fine in English but doesn't work at all in French, they'd probably pronounce it "mille" as in 1000.

My suggestions:

Girls (although I do love Florence from your list)
Adele
Clementine
Emma
Louise
Mia
Sophie

(Oh and I'm not a fan of Manon, btw, I think it sounds rather ugly.)

Boys:
Adam
Leo
Max (I like Maxim as a longer name)
Noah
Tom (Thomas)

Personally I'd avoid any name with "th" (eg Nathan, Theo) because I don't like the different pronunciations, I'm fluent in French but as a native English speaker I find the hard French "th" too harsh and ugly when it's in a name I'm used to hearing with a soft English "th".

Felix works well in both too.

I love Reuben but we ruled it out because of the different spellings (Reuben more common in UK, Ruben more common in France).

@kersh33
If you love the name then go for it!
I'm personally not a fan (i think it's because it has "Man" it it!)
But I think most English speakers will have heard of it and it's not too difficult for them to pronounce.

Mathilde (Tilly) - quite nice.
Maeva (Maeve) - unusual spelling, most people would spell it Maeve to start with.
Emeline - quite nice
Florence - don't think it works well with the surname, and pronounced differently in French
Elodie (Edie) - pretty, is growing in popularity, but most would shorten it to Ellie
Cecile - nice

Hugo - lovely, but pronunciation differs in French
Miles - ditto
Frederic (Freddie) - I like this, the r is different but not a big deal
Quentin - no
Enzo - no

What about Milo for a boy?

Or
Adam
Daniel
Louis

Isabelle
Eloise/Heloise
Lucy/Lucie

My girls are Ellise and Amber , although the French Spellings can vary.

Sebastian
Fleur
Eloise
Amelie

When people mention Fleur it's because it's a French word so people will know how to pronounce it either way
No one's saying lots of French people name their children that

Yes but they are suggesting it.
Let me be more blunt: it's a crap suggestion

(As in: there's a reason French people don't use it)

Fair enough you think that it but OP was asking for suggestions and people are giving them. I'm sure she can decide if she thinks it's crap

Indeed