French-English Baby Names

[Gallia2022]

Hello,

I'm starting this thread as my partner and I are expecting a child in 3 months and we are looking for French or "mixed" baby names (i.e. French names which can be easily pronounced and sound nice in English or names that are both French and English). My problem is that my partner is very picky! I have a list and would be interested to know what English-speaking people think of these names before I talk to him. I think some might be a bit too "out there" for his taste, but I would be however curious to know what people make of them. We don't know if the baby is a boy or a girl so we have to consider both:

Boys:
Remy
Pierre
Joseph
Auguste
Emile
Armand
Edgar
Mayeul

Girls:
Iris
Leonie
Beatrice
Octavie/Octavia
Adelaide
Blanche
Garance

Please let me know if you have other suggestions!

Emil without an -e is easier to use, as with the -e it's easy to mistake for Emilie

I do love Emilie (pronounced the French way) for a girl.

Ninette is lovely too.

Btw - my French grandparent insisted my forenames were French in origin. Like you, my parents chose names that work well in both languages. Nobody hearing my names would ever think “British name” or “French name”.

Garance will sound horrible pronounced by Brits. Rhymed with ‘Clarence’

I love Emil. Surely it is known?

Elodie
Celeste

I love Xavier and Maxime

Like pp I think garance would be problematic in an English accent, and Blanche isn’t brilliant either.

The other names are nice.

Just to throw in a couple of others:
I quite like
Adrien
Fabian
Clovis
Sibylle

Oh and Daphne

Camille
Marianne

Malo

Nina for a girl
Cecile

Agree about avoiding Emile because of similarity to Emily.

Edward / Edouard?
David?
Marc / Mark

If you are living in the UK and planning to stay here I wouldn't worry about whether your son or daughter's name fits their generation. I'm half French and my name is not common in my age group in France but it doesn't matter in the least as it wasn't a 'mum / aunty' name growing up here.

I love French names

An easy option for boys names are French footballers as they'll be well known:
Antoine
Sylvain
Didier
Thierry
Marcel
Fabian
Jules
Emmanuel

Girls:
Amandine
Apolline
Capucine
Celeste/Celestine
Delphine
Fabienne - love!

Nice lists on here snippetsofparis.com/french-girl-names/

Why are you allowed to give it a pure French name but not a pure English name?

One of you is English I'm guessing so why is that not permitted?

Are you living in France and subject to their naming rules? Otherwise it makes no sense.

I have never heard Garance before and font speak French but I think it's gorgeous. I also like Amandine.

Dd has a friend called Emile and apparently new/supply teachers always say Emily. And everyone puts the emphasis in the wrong place (on the Em) rather than on the (mile)

Elodie is lovely and wouldn't be mispronounced by Brits. Garance would be horrid pronounced British style.

I don’t like any of your choices.

I like Daphne and Nina. And Adrien and Oscar for a boys.

Augustine for a girl.

Adeline ?

I’m assuming you live in the Uk -

Boys:
Remy - only for a 55 year old
Pierre - it’s too HELLO I’M FRENCH
Joseph - nice
Auguste - ok, Augustus is nicer
Emile - no, too close to girls’ names like Emily
Armand - no, sounds like a nut or a liqueur
Edgar - nice
Mayeul - no, too complex

How about - Laurent, Alexander, Sebastian, Lucian, Raphael, Justin, Julian nn Jules, Christophe, Frederic, Louis, Leon, Theodore, Dominic, Lucas, Marc, Maxim

Girls:
Iris - nice
Leonie - nice
Beatrice nice
Octavie/Octavia - former wouldn’t work in Uk
Adelaide - nice
Blanche - ok
Garance - too complex

Otherwise - Elisabeth, Sophie, Eloise, Isabelle, Catherine, Lucienne, Claire, Clementine, Josephine, Charlotte, Jeanne, Cecile, Ines, Louise, Madeleine, Sylvie, Zoe. Also Breton names like Catrin and Manon

Marc?

Love Julien qnd Leonie

What age group uses Arnaud in France. I like that but ive no French context, it could be like my French friend told me she liked Martin.

Etienne and Manon. Glorious!

Manon seems to be trendy but it doesnt work particularly well in English

@HelebethH

Boys Andre Phillipe Anton Charles Sebastien Leo

Girls
Celeste
Melody
Antoinette
Helena
Marianne
Josephine
Vivienne
Astrid
Flora
Violet
Margot
Thea

Thank you I like Astrid and Josephine but my cousins have daughters with these names unfortunately. I've been thinking about Margot, it reminds me of my grandmother's name which was Marguerite and my husband's mother is called Margaret so that could work for us!

@Lurking9to5

Love Julien qnd Leonie

What age group uses Arnaud in France. I like that but ive no French context, it could be like my French friend told me she liked Martin.

Arnaud is a name of my generation I would say. Not a bad name but I don't know anybody below 30 with that name and it's also my cousin's name. Martin sounds good in French actually, so does Simon but they don't seem very popular right now in the UK.

Margot is nice!

I love Arthur too. Good choice there. I wanted Arthur for my youngest but DH wasn’t keen.