Baby girl names to suit different British and French naming styles

[Indiff]

Hi all, so my husband and I are expecting our first child together, we both have children from our first marriages and my husband is French.

We have very very different naming styles.

My children are Pippa Jane and Leo Mark, family names for middle names. His children each have 3 middle names! And quite formal to me anyway first names, their names are Arthur Louis Marc Gaspard and Estelle Inès Pascale Aliénor.

We are expecting a little girl

My husband loves

Blanche, Victoire, Apolline and Eugénie
I think these are all far too heavy and I don’t like them.

I love Clara, Phoebe, Alice, Juliette, he doesn’t like any of these!

Can anyone help us find a name we both like?

I can see why. You names are very British.

I would suggest

Eloise
Carolinre
Avril
Chloe
Margot
Amelie

Could be worse - I know young women called Victorine and Philippine.

But for you, what about the following?

Adèle
Manon
Lucie
Emilie
Amandine
Violette
Rose
Emeline
Élise
Léonie
Camille
Clémence
Gabrielle

Claire isn't all that fashionable but there are always a few in every generation so I would call that classic.

Emma
Alice
Caroline
Cecile
Helene

Helene or Beatrice might work, but I would lean towards his choices. Yours seem twee I’m afraid.

Delphine

Eleanor
Annabel
Camille (nn Millie)
Genevieve
Chloe
Emma
Louise

Esme

Ava

Elodie
Celeste
Amelie
Juliette
Suzette
Colette
Camille
Madeleine
Chloé

Clemence or Clementine
Madeleine or Madeline
Anaïs

Celeste
Obeliné
Alizea
Alma

Felicity, Camille

Daphne
Romy
Céline
Claire
Eloise
Sylvie

Are you planning to live in France or in the UK?

We currently live in the uk but his children are still in France and we are there in most school holidays, and almost every month. It’s unlikely we will move to France before my children leave school.

Claude
Violet
Sasha
Imogene

Giselle.

Helena
Selena
Giselle
Nicole

How far away is that? Will your youngest child be educated in the French system to facilitate a move?

I'm only asking because your husband's list sounds like a list of French children and yours sounds like a list of English children. If your youngest will be educated in the French system it might be easier for them to sound like they are French.

Also, your husband's names lean a bit posh for France and that does tend to mean quite fancy sounding names for English ears. Margot, Louisa, Alix, Geneviève and Zélie are my suggestions.

Suggestions

Charlotte
Amelie
Nicole
Celeste

My children are 12 and 14 so likely in the next 6-8 years. We are still discussing education as to if we will use the French curriculum schools or more general international schools in both countries.

I do often think his children’s names lean quite posh to me!

I quite like Zélie, I’ll see what DH thinks!

It's difficult to think of names that fit your DH's vibe that aren't complicated or fancy-sounding. Otherwise I'd have suggested Quitterie, Capucine, Maylis, Laureline. Maybe Lilas?

Equally, it's difficult to think of names that fit your vibe that aren't going to sound plain or excessively popular to your DH.

I actually really like both your lists of names! Good luck.

I like Zelie too.

Marianne?

Eloise
elodie
romy
anna
daphne
mathilde
margot
beatrice
genevieve
amelie
coralie
ottilie
louisa
zoe
martha

I love Josephine