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!

The Arnaud i know is a teen.
Florent
Quentin
Raphaelle
Charles
Henri
Isobel
Louise
Astrid

@Yika

Oh and Daphne

Thank you, it's a shame for Blanche, it sounds really lovely in French. I like Adrien and it was my grandfather's name, but people might mistake it for Adrian? Also is it not a very "old man's name" in English?

I love Manon but I would see endless taunting of the poor girl. Please don’t do it.
Some lovely names here.

@FayCarew

Victor

I wanted Victor for my first child and it was vetoed unfortunately. My partner said it would get shortened to Vic?

Luc
Louis
Christien
Dominic

Giselle
Christiane
Dominique

Elodie is another French name I love but not so sure how well it works in English

I know a little Elodie, it's an easy name to pronounce.

@Taswama

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.

Thanks, I don't really worry about how fashionable a name is but sometimes sound ridiculous in a language or another. I just want to avoid that. I like Edward/Edouard but we already know so many of them...

I like Manon in French and met a really cool French woman with that name so I have positive connotations to it. Unfortunately, I don't think it works in the UK. I think kids will see the words "man" and "on" and so wouldn't be good for bullying if she were a bit masculine.

Does it matter if Adrien is mistaken for Adrian? It’s the same name? In English the pronunciation of both is identical. Your son might have to learn to say ´Adrien with an E’ when someone needs to write it down.

No Adrien / Adrian isn’t an old man name to me, it’s possibly less on trend than Aidan which is very current, but it’s never been massively popular. The actor Adrien Brody is spelt the French way so it’s not unheard of.

Juliette I think is pretty

I would normally use the accents. But it depends on whether you really want to pronounce them the French way or not. Otherwise don't use them.

Rémy - I like it a lot, it makes me think of the cute rat in the movie and I love that movie. Really nice name.

Pierre - this is out of fashion in France but not terribly dated. It's a classic, like Peter. It was crazy common in France in the past so not an exciting choice. I don't like it that much.

Joseph - I don't like this in any language, I find it bland and boring. Joe is kind of cute but I'd rather use Jonah. This won't really show French heritage as it is popular in so many countries.

Auguste - I don't like it in English and in French it sounds even worse, in my opinion. This is currently having a comeback in France so it is cool by French standards, I just don't like it.

Émile - I like it but in English speaking countries people might assume that this is a girls name because it looks similar to Emily.

Armand - not a fan of the sound.

Edgar - makes me think of the "Aristocats" guy, I think it sounds stuck up, sorry! I like Edmund and Edward.

Mayeul - I know that it is an old name but it looks trendy and made up. Endless pronunciation problems. I wouldn't mind because I love many Irish names but you might.

Favourites are Rémy and Émile but I''d pick Rémy it works well.

Iris - I am tired of it it seems like a name that will be super popular soon. It will be extremely hard to get people to say it the French way.

Léonie - it's fine but people will pronounce it the English way and I don't like that pronunciation.

Béatrice - nice but it will be hard to enforce the French pronunciation.

Octavie/Octavia - reminds me of an octopus. They are cool, but still...Octavia isn't particularly French and Octavie is just okay.

Adélaïde - will be extremely hard to enforce the French pronunciation. The name is okay.

Blanche - granny name but making a bit of a comeback. It is fine.

Garance - this is super old stylish in France. I find it harsh and difficult to say for English speakers.

I don't really like any of the girls names but they are all fine.

I wouldn't use a name like Béatrice in English speaking countries because people will always try to pronounce it the English way. It is harder to make people pronounce a name they know differently than choosing a new name. Same with Léonie etc. If you would pronounce them in English I wouldn't use the accents.

I love (but many of the French names I like are 80s/90s dated in France, I feel like these decades had the nicest names):

Élodie
Delphine
Amandine
Océane
Lucine
Léontine
Felicie
Camille

Maël

My latest neice born in France is Sybille

If she had been male then in contention was Patrick, which apparently works in French too?

One of my friends growing up (half French) was Aurelia, which I love

Iris is pronounced quite differently in French and English, that's why we didn't choose it for our french/english dd if that matters to you?

Other ideas to play with, of a Anglo/French people I know

Stella
Anna
Arabella
Alice
Zoe (she is officially Zoë, but has adopted Zoé unofficially)
Agnés (although Agnes is old fashioned in English)
Amelie
Alexandra
Chantal

Marco
Darius
Jaques
Thomas
Robert
Martin
Emile
Benoit, known as Ben
Louis

Having two different pronounciations of your name is fine too. Both me and my brother's name are pronounced differently by our French and English families (and friends). My sons' names also work in both languages with a different pronounciation. As long as you are comfortable with the English way of saying it and aren't going to get stressed trying to enforce the 'correct' pronounciation when they start meeting people without you there (so school at the latest).

Just like you shouldn't choose Joseph if you can't stand Joe as a nickname.

I love love love Garance.

@Taswama

Having two different pronounciations of your name is fine too. Both me and my brother's name are pronounced differently by our French and English families (and friends). My sons' names also work in both languages with a different pronounciation. As long as you are comfortable with the English way of saying it and aren't going to get stressed trying to enforce the 'correct' pronounciation when they start meeting people without you there (so school at the latest).

Just like you shouldn't choose Joseph if you can't stand Joe as a nickname.

This is a good point. I am English, but have French relatives and went to the French Lycee in London. My name is spelt the sane in English and French, which is helpful, but pronounced differently, which isn’t really a problem.

Are you looking for names which are currently in use in France, OP?

A lot of the ones on your list would be quite unusual here.

I just thought of Jasmine to add to my suggestions.

It's true that a lot of the crossover names seem a little dated in one culture or the other, but they can still be lovely names.

@Taswama

Having two different pronounciations of your name is fine too. Both me and my brother's name are pronounced differently by our French and English families (and friends). My sons' names also work in both languages with a different pronounciation. As long as you are comfortable with the English way of saying it and aren't going to get stressed trying to enforce the 'correct' pronounciation when they start meeting people without you there (so school at the latest).

Just like you shouldn't choose Joseph if you can't stand Joe as a nickname.

I know some who are OK with it and some who are not, but basically you don't have much choice. For some reason, the boy's names fare better, maybe because they are simpler (I'm thinking Marc, Simon, Sebastien, Thomas etc vs Elodie, Amelie, Genevieve Stephanie - sorry cba with alt codes)

I don't think Hot School Dinners is a suitable name and your post looks like a scam

I like Iris, Blanche and Beatrice, Edgar and Joseph.

My favourite French names are Manon, Capucine, Apolline, Romane, Maëlys, Thibault, Sébastien, Gabriel, Raphaël, Joachim.

I completely disagree that Manon doesn’t work in the U.K., it’s a Welsh name also. However it depends slightly where you live - in London or in Wales - no problem at all, elsewhere - n’importe quoi.

Maëlys doesn’t work here as everyone would just say Mayliss, but Anaïs does, and people do know how to pronounce it.

@MimiDaisy11

I like Manon in French and met a really cool French woman with that name so I have positive connotations to it. Unfortunately, I don't think it works in the UK. I think kids will see the words "man" and "on" and so wouldn't be good for bullying if she were a bit masculine.

Posters are obsessed with bullying on here.

No-one gets bullied for their name, but because they’re vulnerable in some way. You can make anyone’s name into something funny or rude. And if you can’t you can seize on something else about them.