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?

Simone

Charlotte? Got a French side to it but also a lovely English name.

I would go for Adèle.

Aww wow, I have a Pippa AND a Leo too!

Amelie is a beautiful name....French origins but also very popular in Britain

I like both your children's names and his.

Sibylle
Noélie
Céline
Célia
Elsa
Louise
Astrid
Marine

It needs to work in both languages and Phoebe doesn't work in French.
Some suggestions are very dated (I can't imagine anyone calling their child Suzette) and posters may not realise that names like Camille and Sasha are also boy's names in France.
Alice (one of your suggestions) is a classic name in France. Juliette is very common.

I do see the problem. Could you go for Apolline if she's known as Polly?

Ugh, facing a similar issue with our second. You’d think there’d be more common ground with UK and French names but fashion cycles seem to be totally at odds.

What about more Latin/Romance sounding names? Slightly longer and more formal sounding than the French ones, but less frilly and easier to pronounce in English. Some names I like…
Valentina, Gabriela, Rafaela, Vita, Vivienne, Marina (Le Pen has ruined this one for us :( ), Margarita (could be nn Daisy), Sabrina, Lucia, Bianca, Alicia, Noemie, Oceane (I know this doesn’t really work in English but I love it), Francesca.

We went with Melody for our first and both sides of the family love that.

The Anglo- French girls I know are:
Anna
Stella
Alice
Zoe
Gabriella
Sophie
Isabelle
Sara
Amelie
Alexandra

Anything there?

Some live in the UK, some in France, some have moved between the 2.

I honestly think you both need to come up with 10 more names each to and see if any do it for you, then come up with a combination from both lists that work. You might have to compromise with 2 or 3 middle names but try to get your choices in.

Then be prepared to end up with something like:

Apolline Alice Maëlle (known as Polly)

Julianne Victoire Louise

Clara Eugénie Elise

Vivianne/Vianne?

What about Catherine? It's timeless and works in both languages.

Elizabeth

Violette, famous British women who was sent to France as a spy / resistance worker in WWII.

Valentina, the name of the first woman in space, although it's a Russian name it isn't only Russian. It also has lots of potential for diminutives eg Tina and Val.

I actually love Apolline - and Polly is very sweet and seems to fit your style?

We're a British/Belgian couple so have been through this. There are lots of names which work in both. Alice and Clara on your list are two I would have suggested, but it seems you like very different styles of name to each other, regardless of language.

Some ideas that maybe fall somewhere in between your styles:
Charlotte (Charlie)
Victoria
Albane
Elena
Margot
Amelia
Sophia/Sophie
Emily/Emilie

Adeline, Agnès, Chloé, Thomasine, Yvette

I’m English and my husband is French. His sister is actually called Apolline, and his best friend’s daughter Blanche!

We had a boy (who also has 3 middle names, as does my husband) but girl names included:

Helene (this was his top name)
Daphne
Anna
Alice
Erica
Coraline (pronounced Cora-leen)

Thomasine is a great suggestion.

You should warn your DH, OP, that Blanche is a name that really changes with a British pronunciation! It sounds like blanching broccoli!

Amie
Amelie
Sophie(a)
Marie

Camille
Sophie
Rachelle
Charlotte
Madeleine
Juliette
Elodie

Alizee Josephine
Charlotta Marie Pomeline
Gisele Fleur
Clemence Madeleine
Eloise Chlotilde

We have a French surname and went with Emma as very popular in Europe, especially France. Also not massively popular in England. None at my daughters large primary and only one other (2 years older) at her high school.

Second names in France are often the godparents names.

I love the name Jade, if I have another little girl that’s going to be her name. It’s not as common in the uk as it used to be but I recently found out it’s super popular in France albeit pronounced slightly differently

Oh I could have written this! Except we live in France.

My shortlist - Sophie, Juliette, Anna, Louisa, Maéva, Eveline (old ladyish for the French, but I like it), Éliane (also old ladyish and unusual), Laurianne (too 80s?)

My bf's suggestion - Anastasia (too fussy for my taste)

I like Zélie but I think it's pretty unusual.

I also like Clara but have discovered that all French men my age strongly associate it with the porn star of the same name who was big when they were teenagers....I really like Flora but for me it doesn't work well with what will be the baby's surname (also, margarine).

What about a name that ends in -ine? Amandine, Delphine, Céline etc. I think they sound nice to British ears and are not difficult to pronounce. My reading is that they are not considered too posh/too common/too catholic in France but I'm not necessarily an expert on all the connotations.

Some baby girls names that French friends have chosen recently are Noélie, Rosalie, Emeline, Jeanne, Artemis, Ophelia, Myrtille, Marie.