Help French boys name!

[wildswimmer20]

Pregnant with no. 2, hubbie is French but we live in the UK. 1st child has an unusual Celtic name and this time would like to choose a French name but struggling! Needs to be fairly easy to say/spell in both languages. Wouldn’t probably go for a very traditional French name.

Top choice at the moment is Artus, like the nicknames Art and Artie. Would be pronounced quite differently in French and English, does it sound ok in English?

Other options -
Léon
Sylvain
Mathis / Matisse
Malo

Open to suggestion!

Love Manu Chao @CharlottenBerg

Cédric, Fabrice, Blaise, Alain, Hippolyte.

Artus is a brilliant name, but don't expect les rosbifs to pronounce it exactly as it should be!

Oh look, another Alain

@NameChange30

»le petit Alain est attendu près de la caisse centrale par sa maman »

just sounds so weird and dated !

Léon! 😍Absolutely LOVE that one

It's actually one of the only names on the list that I'd expect pronounced similarly.

Yep!

According to this article, the average age of men/boys called Alain is 67.

I mean, if you love the name, go for it anyway, but I'm not a fan.

Depends how 'similar' you are prepared to accept. The 'r' sounded right (dans la gorge)? The 'u' vowel?

Is Artus pronounced like R2D2?

Sort of, the 'r' involves the throat, so arrrhtoos, (rhymes with 'loose', 'goose', etc) but not to overdo the throaty think (just a little hint of it is fine). That sound is very hard for many English speakers to master. I reckon many will say 'Artus' like they say 'Marcus'.

--- throaty thing

Artus sounds quite different in French to Artus in an english accent.
Arthur does too.

Dominic ( pronounced Dominique by the French)

There was an actor called Artus in Amélie Poulain.

I'll just throw Marcus into the mix. Works well on both sides of the channel and fits your vibe.

I love Marcus.
What about Arnaud instead of Artus?

Artus de Penguern, a Breton, born 1957, died 2013. Artus is a Breton name, surname or forename, and means 'bear'. La racine du prénom Artus est celte.

Dominique A is a musician we like.

We once met a boy on holiday called Soizic. It might be Breton. That would go with your other Celtic child. Also pp saying Axel made me think of Acel, the name of a half French boy I know of.

Well this is embarrassing, according to Google Soizic is a girl's name. But the one we met was definitely a boy!!!

Can you imagine English speakers trying to read/write Soïzic?! (I'm fluent in French and still had to ask DH how to pronounce it!)

Honestly.

Bien que Soizic soit un prénom féminin, il a été donné à 26 garçons depuis 1900, ce qui représente 0.53% des 4 910 naissances.

So - ee - i - ik?

That's So - ee - i - zik?