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!

Gilles for a boy
Aurelie for a girl

Solene
Monique
Apolline

Ismael
Baptiste
Marion

Claude I think is a great name.

I knew 2 Sarahs at primary one was called Hairy Sarah the other was called Starer. Katie could be called Weightie, Marie Mary = vagina etc. Karen now has its own pejorative meaning.

And if kids couldn’t think of a name they’d just pick on a mannerism or a personal attribute or an incident etc.

Take Elizabeth - a “normal” name - I knew one who was called Lisper as she had a lisp. As we went to senior school that inevitably changed to Lesbo.

You can’t kidproof names.

To @KirstenBlest ^

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ophelie French - English Ophelia

We are a French-English bilingual family too.
I bought a French baby names book and both DH and I read through it separately and each wrote our own list before comparing them. We vetoed most of each other's choices (mainly because they didn't sound good in English or French) and then ended up with a very short shortlist

We went for relatively unusual names but in general I think the names that work best in both languages are pretty classic.

Boys:
Remy - like
Pierre - I think of this as a middle aged man's name. I do know of a younger one but in general I think it's a bit outdated in France. It's also very obviously French, which you may or may not want.
Joseph - really like this, classic in both languages
Auguste - dislike, sorry. Don't like the sound. And I think English people will find it a bit weird (not that it should matter if you love it, but still).
Emile - ok. Very close to Emily as PPs have said.
Armand - OK
Edgar - quite like this, unusual but easy to pronounce and spell. Could be Ed for short.
Mayeul - dislike, sorry, and I think English speakers will mangle the pronunciation

Girls:
Iris - ok but I don't like the French pronunciation
Leonie - quite like
Beatrice - like
Octavie/Octavia - I’m afraid this just makes me think of the car (Skoda Octavia)
Adelaide - OK but more of a city than a name
Blanche - No, just no
Garance - Don't like, sorry, I find it a bit harsh and masculine

From your list, my favourites are Edgar and Remy for boys. For girls, I like Iris, Beatrice and Adelaide. I also like Garance, though it makes me think of 'Les Enfants du Paradis' (which is not a bad thing!)
One name that works very well in both languages (though some might say it's boring) is Nicolas. Also Patrick, as a previous poster has suggested. Benedict would work too, and also Charles, and Edmund/Edmond and Philippe. And Victor - perhaps your DH might change his mind? For girls, Audrey is pretty bilingual, so is Flora. Caroline would work (the final syllable is variable), so would Justine, Helen(e), Catherine /Katrina/Catriona (though the pronounciation would differ a bit) and Christine /Christina (derserves a revival perhaps?) . I also like Clea (sorry, can't do accents), Corinne/Corinna and Diane/Diana.

Some suggestions

BOYS

Alex (Alexandre)
Ben (Benoit)
Chris (Christophe)
Clément
Léo / Leo
Lucas
Max (Maxime)
Noah
Paul
Samuel
Simon

I rejected names with "th" (eg Nathan, Theo) because I find the French pronunciation sounds harsh compared to the soft English "th".
Also names like Daniel and Nicolas because the French pronunciations sound like the girl's names in English (Danielle, Nicola).

GIRLS

Adèle
Emma
Inès
Louise
Margot
Mia
Rose

I love Anaïs but didn't use it because I thought most English speakers wouldn't be able to pronounce it (surprised a PP said they would).

I also like the suggestions of Nicole and Sophie.

And Thibault, although I agree it's hard for English speakers to spell/pronounce. I guess you could spell it Tibo but I don't think I'd want to do that, personally.