Names for a Franglais baby

[Steoh1]

Hi All

we are a French/ English couple living in the uk and expecting a boy.

my wife likes the name Sacha (amongst others) which is more popular in France.

at first I didn’t like it (reminds me of Sacha baron cohen and Borat) but now it’s growing on me.

It quite unusual but wondering if we may grow to dislike it over time.

any thoughts?

thanks

I wouldn't use it for the reason you mention.

Don’t like it much, tbh.
Laurent?
Timothee?
Jean-Luc? (sorry, couldn’t resist a Star Trek reference)

Joel ?

(You could even put the two accent dots above the e but I don’t know how to do it on my phone! It’s unnecessary for the English spelling of Joel though).

Gabriel, Raphael, Leo, Lucas, Noah, Arthur all in top 10 in france. Loads of crossover in top 100. I'm sure you'll find a name you both like rather than one that has to grow on you. I know a half French half English Elias (e lee as) and a Luke.

Assume you're English and your wife is French? DH and I are the other way around.

If I were you I'd look at the French baby name lists and pick names you like that will work in English. Personally I avoided names beginning with H and names with "th" in them, for obvious pronunciation reasons!

My favourites are:
Clément (Clem)
Leo
Maxime (Max)
Noah
Oscar
Robin
Ruben

I'm not a fan of Sacha tbh, as a native English speaker living in the UK, it sounds too feminine to me.

Martin
Noel

Top 100 baby names in France (boys) :

https://www.parents.fr/prenoms/top-100-des-prenoms-de-garcons-100988

Girls :

https://www.parents.fr/prenoms/top-100-des-prenoms-de-filles-100989

Pascal
Elias
Louis

It's short for Alexander, so I'd use that. Or Alexandre, if you don't mind English people misreading it as Alexandra!

Sasha is a girls name in the UK
I'd prefer
Louis, Milo, Sebastien, Gabriel and Raphael.

I wouldn't go for a name which looks the same as an English name but is pronounced differently (David, Edith, Laurent etc). Something like Louis is reasonably safe, ditto Luke/Luc. Or I'd go for something French but which people will learn (Guillaume, Philippe).

I ruled out Gabriel for that reason. The French pronounce it like the English "Gabrielle". Ditto Daniel / "Danielle".

Guillaume and Philippe are dated in France (and not in a good way!)

We already have a Noah. We love the name but there's just so many of them around these days, which got us thinking about going for something less popular this time.

Same goes for the likes of Theo, Leo, Oliver etc. All nice names but just feels like we've heard them too many times.

I'm a big fan of Louis, but my wife things it might be pronounced Lewis in the UK.

Robin is nice but it's already taken in our family too. Clement is nice but might become Clemmy when he gets to school, which reminds me of Clammy.

Alot of the more traditional French names are pretty dated over there.

Sacha seems to be well received by our French friends and is a top 10/20 name there, however might be one that isn't liked so much in the UK.

Sods law we had some great girls names lined up! 😂

Patrick
Alain
Emanuel
Charles
Robert
Albert
Christophe

I like Sacha, especially the French spelling like this.

It's a boys name to me as I only know boys named Sacha (or Sascha in German)

I also like the following for a French/UK boy
Clément
Quentin
Sébastien

Sacha will most likely be perceived as a girl's name in the UK. Your wife is wrong, Louis will not be pronounced Lewis over here. Louis is a well known name in the UK, not least because of the Royal Family.

How about Beau. It's unusual and can't be shortened. A change from all the Noahs and Olivers.

Louis will not be pronounced Lewis over here.

Actually I know at least one Louis who goes by Lou-is.

And doesn't the famous gymnast Louis Smith not also pronounce it Lou-is (Lewis)?

I like Sacha

Luc, Marc, and Sébastien are all lovely names that work well in both countries.

John-Luke

Louis wouldn’t be pronounced Lewis, especially since Prince Louis.

Franglais boys I've met:

Henry (easy to pronounce in both nations)
Maxime (Max) - said how it sounds in the UK so no issues.

They're not the most exciting names though!

Hugo works in both languages!

I love Sacha, I know two little boys called this here in London so no, I would not assume girl. Sasha for a girl is a) spelled differently and b) quite dated anyway, surely?!

I also think that the risk of you eventually disliking a name you choose for your child is slim. Attaching names to our kids tends to freeze them in a positive light.

But agree with others that the standard pronunciation of Louis here is like the prince and not Lewis! So that's a good option (though I prefer Sacha).

Felix

I’m not French, from an English standpoint his name will be mistaken for Sasha and he’ll probably be misgendered

Personally I wouldn’t want to set my child up for that if avoidable