Help with French/English boys name - Quentin, Hugo or Thomas

[Florencemaman]

My dh (French) and I are expecting our first boy. We would like to give him a name that 'works' in both French and English. Our favorites, all fairly popular in France, are:

Quentin
Hugo
Thomas

What do you think?

I like them all, but Thomas is probably the most 'common' name, whereas Quentin and Hugo are (imho) less popular but equally classic, traditional names.

Love Thomas.
I'm afraid I dislike the names Quentin and Hugo - a little pretentious, but it depends where you live.

j'aime Hugo
et aussi Remy

Hugo is my favourite, lovely lovely name.

Quentin also nice.

Thomas is one of those names that's not really very personal I think. Very generic.

Are you in England or France and is it likely to change? If you are going to pronounce "Quentin" the French way, could cause problems with puerile English schoolchildren. It does sound rather florid in English however you pronounce it.

Love Hugo and Thomas.

Am in France, DS2 is called Hugo. I agree with mrsgboring, the English would find Quentin difficult though it is a lovely name. Thomas is nice but a bit nondescript imo.

Thank you for your responses so far.

We are in France currently but may be moving to England (probably London) within the next 5 years. So would like a name that works well in both countries.

think emile is a lovely name

Yes but Quentin in French sounds nothing like Quentin in English.

sorry, can see other people have said that too. (should read before posting!)

I just called mine Pascal. Quentin was a close runner up.

I have french friends who were living over here (N. Ireland) and called their little boy Ywann- and everyone has coped with pronouncing it very well- I think it's beautiful. They also considered Luc or Lucas.

I like Etienne too, which works ok in England. I have a friend who is half French & half-English, brought up in England, called Jean-Luc, and he's never had probs with pronounciation.

I like Thomas, though it's getting very popular over here again (2 in DS's class). I like Quentin but not so sure about Hugo.
Good luck!

I have a Hugo and love it, lots of other people do too

He is mostly 'Hugs' to us in the family.

He is perfectly edible too, see profile

We quite like French names and are hoping to move to France in the next 10 years or so. I love it there!

Quentin sounds great in French and rubbish in English imo...

I know a bilingual family who have a thomas and I think it works really well....

Another bilingual family i know have a yann (guess english equivalent is Ian?) and a jeremie....

Xavier is lovely too.

All lovely

I prefer Quentin and Hugo - both traditional, classic names imo.

Thomas a little too popular and 'common' for me.

I love Hugo, I wanted a Hugo but DP said no!

I love Hugo and Ettienne. I also love the name Isodore (is that French?) and Florian.

Not keen on Quentin and Hugo sounds a bit posh. Thomas is nice but pretty common if you're looking for something more unusual.

I love Xavier too. V cool. And also Bruno, which is Hugo-ish, but not so posh.

My friends with French/English parents have a Matthieu (sp?), which works well in both languages too IMO.

Not quentin IMO - reminds me of that funny looking man off the car programme on TV - quentin wilson isn't it?
Hugo and Thomas are fine names.

Hugo.

Quentin just makes me think Crisp.
Thomas a bit ordinary but I supposed pronounced differently in France.

Florian > that name is lovely!

I have a Thomas Oliver Henry .....all very french.

But beware all Thomas's I have ever known including my own are gorgeous but very naughty!!

I know one bilingual French/English Thomas, and it definitely works in each language, but it's true that there are at least two Thomases in every class.

I love the name Hugo but just don't think that Quentin works in English at all.