Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Help! Punchy, unusual French girl names

176 replies

vowelsandall · 22/09/2024 22:05

Baby girl is here and nameless, so I need your help please!! I need a name that fits the following criteria:

  • punchy (by that I mean something that has some energy and strength to it)
  • something that is not commonly used in the UK, but ideally something that isn't considered made up either. It would be great if it's something that isn't really dated in France too
  • something that is French, or at least pronounceable in French. I don't mind if the pronunciation is a little different in English and French

Any ideas? I would be most grateful!

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
deeahgwitch · 23/09/2024 08:00

Eloise is beautiful
So too is Aurelie
Also consider Noemie and Annick.

NameChange30 · 23/09/2024 08:09

youdramallama · 23/09/2024 07:54

Roux

Eh?!

Agapornis · 23/09/2024 08:33

DickEmery · 23/09/2024 01:04

Bof

Grin

Fanny - meets all your criteria...

Sparklyhat · 23/09/2024 09:00

Nico (short for Nicole)

DancefloorAcrobatics · 23/09/2024 09:15

Agapornis · 23/09/2024 08:33

Grin

Fanny - meets all your criteria...

It's also a brand name in Peru/ South America!
🤣

Keenrower · 23/09/2024 09:50

Cecile

HotCrossBunplease · 23/09/2024 10:26

Can you give an example of what you consider to be a “punchy” name OP?

And comment dit-on “punchy” en français?

Jos88 · 23/09/2024 10:32

I have an Inès. It’s not for everyone but we love it. We found naming tough!

If you aren’t native yourself, definitely run your choice past a few native speakers, ideally including some who have lived there for some time, before deciding.

Eg I loved certain names which sounded so beautiful to me but my (French) husband said it’d be the equivalent of naming your baby [insert very dated popular 60s name here - don’t want to be mean by mentioning anyone’s name or child’s name!] in France.

beetlebrain · 23/09/2024 10:34

Pascale. The name of my exchange partner in 1979. Always loved it.

Jos88 · 23/09/2024 10:37

Fink · 22/09/2024 23:01

The current French trend seems to be for very short (3-4 letter) names, so if you want more unusual then I'd look longer. But longer might mean less punchy, so I guess it depends which criteria you value more.

I also would be wary of asking on a UK side about French names. Most of the names I've seen on here are very dated in France.

I also would be wary of asking on a UK side about French names. Most of the names I've seen on here are very dated in France.

Exactly this. Several times I (English) thought I’d found the perfect French name and excitedly told my French husband who grimaced and gave me an English equivalent which made me go back to the drawing board. 😂 I found it so strange how I couldn’t accurately guess which seemingly beautiful names to me would be so dated too.

ThatCalmPombear · 23/09/2024 10:39

Alix

Jos88 · 23/09/2024 10:47

Clementine22 · 23/09/2024 02:44

Jolie

I would hate to be named “Pretty”. Same with “Handsome” (Beau) if I was a boy/man.

Fink · 23/09/2024 10:51

And comment dit-on “punchy” en français?

The closest equivalent is probably pêchu.

NameChange30 · 23/09/2024 13:25

beetlebrain · 23/09/2024 10:34

Pascale. The name of my exchange partner in 1979. Always loved it.

And are there many babies with your first name?

Pascale is a middle aged name in France.

Tickettothemoon · 23/09/2024 13:49

Alba
Luna
Soleil
Romy

Keenrower · 23/09/2024 14:23

Josephine
Estelle

vowelsandall · 23/09/2024 21:50

Wow, thanks for this huge number of responses! To answer some of what has been raised, I am French speaking, living in the UK but with much family in France. As a result, I am somewhat in touch with current trends. However, it is most important that it works in the UK, since this is where we live, which is why I am consulting a UK website.

We like:

  • Celeste, though I'm not sure it feels 'punchy'. That doesn't rule it out, though
  • Anaïs - I have always loved. I used to think it'd be out of the question because of pronunciation difficulties in the UK, but I wonder if I've been hasty. I think many won't know how to say it at first (Many seem to say 'Anay'), but once corrected An-eye-ees seems achievable. It's still not the cleaner An-a-ees pronunciation that you'd get in France though. What do people think?

I really like some of the others suggested but have friends or family with many of the names already (e.g. Inès, Héloïse, Capucine, Pascale, Romy).

Thanks again for your perspectives :)

OP posts:
HotCrossBunplease · 23/09/2024 22:02

FYI Celeste is very popular amongst Americans. I know one 9 year old and one baby Celeste, both live in UK but have American Mums/Moms.

Crikeyalmighty · 23/09/2024 22:08

I have a French friend called Elodie which is very pretty

Also know a odette, a madeleine (Maddy) a Zara and a Margot

Fink · 23/09/2024 23:39

Anaïs - I have always loved. I used to think it'd be out of the question because of pronunciation difficulties in the UK, but I wonder if I've been hasty. I think many won't know how to say it at first (Many seem to say 'Anay'), but once corrected An-eye-ees seems achievable. It's still not the cleaner An-a-ees pronunciation that you'd get in France though. What do people think?

At the risk of getting flamed for being classist, it depends where you live in the UK. If you live somewhere with a lot of ethnic diversity and/or a lot of CSP+ inhabitants, it will be fine. As you say, not a perfect match in pronunciation, but an approximation that's pretty close. If you live somewhere with more homogeneity of names, then anything out of the ordinary risks being mangled.

That said, I agree that most people would be able to remember the approximative pronunciation once they were told. It's not a difficult name for an English speaker: no silent letters, no letters that make a sound you wouldn't expect, no sounds that don't exist in English (techincally that last point is slightly incorrect, but you've said that you're ok with that).

The other, small, issue, is that English keyboards still aren't set up to use diacritical marks very easily (you can install your own shortcuts or use the alt keycodes, but it's not as straightforward as a French keyboard). And some electronic databases and the like don't accept them. Nowadays a lot is done by phone rather than computer, where diacritics are much easier, and most companies are getting better. But there are still enough difficulties that I would think twice before giving a UK baby a name with anything other than the standard 26 letters (I speak as the holder of such a name). For example, you can't get a UK passport with a diacritic, you would just have to write Anais on the passport, which is annoying (at least to me). And it's a bit hit and miss whether they would spell it properly in primary school. The other things are smaller fry, like sports.

I wouldn't rule out Anaïs. If you like it, it's perfectly manageable. Just be aware of the potential pitfalls.

NameChange30 · 23/09/2024 23:44

Anaïs - I have always loved. I used to think it'd be out of the question because of pronunciation difficulties in the UK, but I wonder if I've been hasty. I think many won't know how to say it at first (Many seem to say 'Anay'), but once corrected An-eye-ees seems achievable. It's still not the cleaner An-a-ees pronunciation that you'd get in France though. What do people think?

Anaïs is such a beautiful name when pronounced properly (ie the French way). I ruled it out though because I was worried about people butchering it all the time, and it would ruin the name for me. I think if you really love it, though, and you can be tolerant of people getting it wrong, you should use it.

I think Inès is also lovely but easier for English speakers to spell and pronounce.

NameChange30 · 23/09/2024 23:54

I don't know if anyone has suggested it yet, but I like Inaya. Very unusual but a phonetic spelling so I don't think it's too difficult to spell and pronounce. Pretty without being cutesy.

NCmybloodyfather · 24/09/2024 00:01

Aziliz (Breton)

GellerYeller · 24/09/2024 00:12

Noel Gallagher’s daughter is Anais. I’ve never heard him refer to her by name, so I’m interested how he pronounces it. It is a beautiful name, congratulations.

Norzilla · 24/09/2024 01:21

Angeline
Anais
Fleur
Fantine
Cossette
Gabrielle
Eivre
Belle

Swipe left for the next trending thread