English/French baby names (living in France)

[Neelym11]

Looking for some ideas, feedback and inspiration please!

My husband and I are really struggling to agree on a name which works in both English and French. I’m British, he’s French and we’ll be moving permanently to France in a couple of months.

Our son is Arthur which works perfectly in the UK and in France and I don’t mind the difference in pronunciation.

Any suggestions / feedback on the below names would be greatly appreciated.

• Charlotte (husbands favourite but super popular?)
• Sylvie (my favourite but apparently very old fashioned in France)
• Margot
• Sophie
• Florence

• Louis (husband’s favourite after his grandfather.. but again very poplar?)
• Valentin (my favourite, difficult for English to pronounce?)
• Théo
• Rémy
• Raphaël

• our surname begins with M if that makes a difference! X

I found that posting on Mumsnet was a bit pointless tbh because the vast majority of mumsnetters are English speakers who live in the UK and don't speak French fluently, have never lived in France and don't have lots of French family and friends. So very little exposure to current French naming trends and the cultural associations of names. A lot of people will just reel off the French names they've heard once before and thought sounded nice, even though to French person the name is the equivalent of Gary or Sharon or something (perfectly decent names but not names most people would choose for a baby in 2024). Oh and there's always someone who suggests Beau which is the most ridiculous name for an English child let alone a French one.
@NameChange30 , I agree.
I'm not French but have noticed it on threads for other languages.
For example, the names suggested are those of celebrities, so are the names of adults.
Like asking for English names and getting Emma (Thompson), Kate (Winslet), Adele, Victoria, David, Ed, Harry, Lewis, Andy.

I have never met anyone French or in France called Vivienne, of any age. I work in medicine so come into contact with many patients (plus their family members) and colleagues.

Naissances en 2022 : 18 filles (très rare)
L'âge moyen des Vivienne est de 65 ans
(from https://www.parents.fr/prenoms/vivienne-57155)

Translation: only 18 baby girls were named Vivienne in 2022, and the average age of Vivienne is 65.

I haven’t either in the time I’ve spent in France. I can see the Latin origin would fit ( vivre, vif etc) but before Angelina Jolie, I’d only come across it in Oscar Wilde (in the Picture of Dorian Gray. )

Prénom Élodie : Origine - Caractère - Signification - Etymologie | PARENTS.fr
1980s name.

And yet Louise, which would probably be considered a 70s/80s name in the UK, is one of the most popular names in France currently.

French friend with British DH has:

Camille and Jules which I both like.

Another friend with British ex DH has:

Juliette

For girls I like:-

Chantal
Mimi
Pascale
Emmanuelle
Estelle (French NDN DH and American wife named their DD this)
Elodie
Amelie
Faustine
Monique
Delphine

(I do like some of the more classically French girls names as you can see).

boys:-

Thierry
Remy
Arsene
Felix
Jean
Patrice
Xavier
Yannick

I think all the above are fairly interchangeable countrywise.

Laur is the French for Laura (I only recall this because a friend in my French class was called this when we had French names.

Madelaine
Chantelle
Lisette
Amelie
Helena

Jean is not "interchangeable" at all; it's a boy's name in French and a girl's name in English.

The name Laura exists in France; it was popular in the 90s and is still considerably more popular than Laure, which has declined rapidly in popularity since around 1990. "Laur" does not exist.

My apologies it’s Laure. I was told by my French teacher back in the 80s that there was no such name as Laura in France. That may have changed since then. I have no idea. The only French people I know in France are the neighbours and locals where my parents have a holiday home. I certainly don’t keep track of the grandkids names.

I think both me and a pp used Jean.

Most of the more traditional French names I put have been used in the past 5-15 years for children in France (friends). There still seems to be a trend for some to prefer traditional names.

And calm the fuck down, you sound like you’ve eaten too much chocolate and have a sugar high.

This.

Even Laura isn't that common these days but it's by far the most modern.

Laurence is like the opposite of Jean; a boy's name in the UK and a girl's name in France.

I actually love Laurence for a girl, but sadly it is quite dated.

The French are weird actually as I know a female Laurence who lives in France. (Her mum is French and dad is English).

I find a lot of French boys' names sounds feminine to an English ear, so there were some names I ruled out for that reason.

The French pronunciations of Daniel and Gabriel, for example, sound like Danielle and Gabrielle. More examples: Maël, Jules and Sacha, all lovely names in the French top 10 boys' names, but likely to be assumed to be girls in the UK.

There really are some grumpy trapdoor spiders on MN!

I think that post proved my earlier point quite nicely.

My only knowledge of this name is based on something my French teacher told me 40 years ago so I'm going to share this piercing insight and then get defensive and sweary if someone corrects me!

@MissScarletInTheBallroom , top 15 girls' names includes
Jade, Louise, Emma, Alice, Anna, Julia, Chloé. It looks like a 1980s shortlist.

You should come to the Accident post then.

Laurence is 100% a female name in France. It doesn't exist as a male name.

Actually my next door neighbour ( aged 12) is a male Laurence. No idea why - the other dc have nice bourgeois names 😉

I have friends who are a French/English couple and they have a boy called Lucien which I've always loved. Might work if you love Louis but think it's too popular

Oh that’s a good call/ it works really well in both French and English I think.

A good friend of mine and DH is called Henri and his family is french, his name is pronounced Henry (not the french way of saying) I think that name would definitely work with Arthur. Charlotte isn't a popular name now though. Florence is a beautiful name that would be my choice.

Yep seconding Henri.