Bilingual name dilemma

[Ractapep]

Hello! DD is due any day now and am having a dilemma choosing a name. She will be raised in a bilingual community (French & English) and will go to school where French is the predominant language spoken.

Onto my dilemma. There is a woman in my life who is very important to me, and I want to include her name as either the first or middle name. Her name is Jean. The issue is that “Jean” is the French equivalent of “John” and most people will probably assume she is a boy if this is her first name. The original Jean has told me in the past that alternate spellings of Jean are one of her pet peeves, as her name is frequently misspelled.

My DS’s middle name is after my father, who passed away when I was 15. My DP lost both of his parents within the last 10 years or so. I would also potentially like to include something related to his father (François) in her name.

Do I pick a first name that works in French and English and keep Jean as the middle name (with the English spelling) or do I go with the French spelling “Jeanne” and pick a middle name related to François (like Frances/Françoise)?

You could use Jeanette?

So many lovely combos..
Jean is chic and under used.
Frances/Francesca has a great meaning.

Jean Francesca
Francesca Jean - my fave
Jeannie Frances
Frances Johanna
Joanna Frances
Francine Johanna

Sashimi’s

If you are in a bilingual community why don’t you just go all French? I like Jeanne Françoise.

I like this but the other way around

Jean as a middle name. Don't use Jeanne or other variant if the Jean you want to honour is peeved by variants.

You could have 2 middle names, Jean and Françoise? Especially if she won't have a double-barrelled surname.

Françoise Jean is a perfectly sweet name

How about Francesca Jean? A beautiful name imo

I am French and Jean is out of the question for a girl. Absolutely out.

And Françoise, while pretty, is very outdated. But I guess that doesn't matter if you like the name or it is important to you.

I wouldn't use Jean for a first name if she's being raised in a French speaking community no matter how much you want to honor the relative. I also wouldn't use your husband's father's name for a girl, why not use his mother's?

Does Jean have a middle name you could use?
i also wanted to honour a family member with my LO, but they hated their first name and said they hope nobody gets named after them lol. So when I spoke to them about wanting to honour them and suggested giving LO the same middle name they were over the moon and thanked me. It still felt special.

I am going to assume that the Jean you want to honour is not French herself? Because my observation here is that Jeanne is Jean, in the French context you're describing. I don't think Original Jean is saying 'I hate all variants of my name that aren't Jean,' I think she's saying 'it's annoying when people constantly spell or pronounce your name wrong'. And, given her peeve is people misspelling her name, if you call your daughter Jean in this very French-centric context, you're literally setting her up for a lifetime if the exact thing that hacks Original Jean off so much, which is perhaps honouring her to a greater extent than is sensible. So I say go with Jeanne.

This

Agree with this! Love Jeanne. I’d using as a first name.

Although, I’d say it’s fine to use Jean as a middle if your daughter will be bilingual. My children have first names that aren’t English, but that work well enough in the UK. Middle names are English - and my daughter has an honour middle name that is a boy’s name to her other culture. I think it’s fine. She has an obviously girly first name, middle names are so rarely used and it was very important to me to honour my relative. It wouldn’t be the same name if I’d changed it to work in another language, and she is half British too!

I would use Jean as a middle name.

There are times when it is useful to have a male name or a gender neutral name.

Françoise Jean
I wouldn’t change the spelling and when asked pronounce it the English way

Bilingual French/English family. PLEASE don’t use Jean, do the French feminine spelling. I don’t think the person you’re honouring would want your DD mocked for being called John.

The name needs to work where the child is currently IMO- there’s French names I love but as we are in the UK they wouldn’t be pronounced or spelt correctly and it’s unfair on the child.

I’m Sure there was a post earlier in the year about someone wanting to name their child the Portuguese for nose as a name, in Portugal. Just cruel to the kid!

Francesca Jeanne would be my choice.

I would go with Jeanne. It's absolutely close enough to be a tribute to Jean, and I agree with @Mamoun, you can't spell it Jean for a girl if you live in France, not even as a middle name.

Françoise is very old fashioned in France these days. Not so much of an issue for a middle name but worth bearing in mind.

I'd go for Jeanne Francesca or Francesca Jeanne.

(Francesca should be fine in France, I know a Francesco in France and it doesn't confuse anyone.)

When living in France a few years ago I had a British friend called Jean... it drove her potty that everyone assumed she was a man when seeing her name written down... Or when they heard her name, thought it was spelled any number of ways (djin, jynne, jeanne)

Ugh don’t do this. I have a male middle name and I loathe it. I’ve dropped it from my name and haven’t used it for decades. It’s on my passport sadly and I cringe.

I love Jeanne so I’d go for that

I wouldn’t use Jean for a girl at all if she is bi-national to that degree - it would just be odd.

I think your Jean is just going to have to accept that because it is so blindingly obvious

Plenty of people like it or don't mind it, though. My friend's middle name is Julian after her dad - she really likes it.

Jeannette is an old lady name - as is Ginette, which is phonetically more similar to the English Jean and has a kind of 1930s vibe. I would go for Jeanne, which is lovely and timeless, even if it doesn't sound much like Jean.

Francine Jeanette