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!

When I lived in Paris I was told popular or trendy names are considered gauche. Definitely for the banlieue.

That's exactly the impression I have. Kevin being the canonical example.

Kévin is not a popular name for kids these days, even in the banlieue. It peaked in the early 1990s and has dropped like a stone since.

I did once read about an experiment where people sent job applications to a number of employers. If they used names like Mourad, Khaled or Farida, very few were asked for interview. If they used the same work history, qualifications, etc, but with old fashioned français de souche type names the response rate was much higher. I have a feeling Kévin is treated much like prénoms maghrébins.

Realistically if you live in the UK it has to be something you can cope with being murdered!

We have a Sacha, went for the french spelling 🥰

Kevin was a temporary trend witnessed across Western Europe as a result of the Home Alone series….

Sorry, i meant it in a cute way, it's a very beautiful name

Guitry, Distel, Baron Cohen...

It may be too Biblical but I really like Gabriel.

Missed your reply but if its about sounding girly thats a compliment to us! We have a boy and a girl and we wanted both names to be gender neutral and european friendly.

No it doesn't sound too girly to me at all. I just said Sacha reminds me of my childhood (Sacha Ketchum). I think it's a really beautiful name.