View Message

[Opinions] Names for your posh French baby (w/ pronunciations)
My favorite French baby name site (meilleursprenoms.com) has a list of the top 20 baby names appearing in birth announcements in Le Figaro (conservative, upper class newspaper) for each year since 1991. I compiled the lists into one long list of all the names that have appeared in that time. Though I know a lot of French people, some of these are truly surprising! Especially in English, names like Blanche, Capucine, Flore, Hortense, Philippine, Sixtine, and Tanguy are bizarre/hilarious. That said, I think all those names sound lovely in French. And there are names that I think sound god awful in French, but nice enough in English (Adélaïde & Hugues spring to mind)I've added pronunciation alongside the names. Some sounds are fairly difficult to transcribe in English. I'm not even going to try to indicate the nasal sound that N sometimes makes after vowels (i.e. in Bonjour, Hein, etc.). And "ah" = the a sound in cat.Adrien (ah-dree-AN)
Alexandre (ah-leck-SONDR)
Alexis (ah-leck-SEECE)
Amaury (ah-MO-ree)
Antoine (on-TWON)
Armand (ahr-MON)
Arnaud (ahr-NO)
Arthur (ahr-TEWR)
Augustin (o-guice-TAN)
Aurélien (o-REH-lyan)
Baptiste (bah-TEEST)
Benjamin (ban-zha-MAN)
Benoît (buh-NWA)
Charles (sharl)
Clément (kleh-MON)
Édouard (eh-DWAR)
Éloi (eh-LWA)
François (fron-SWA)
Gabriel (gah-bree-EL)
Gaspard (gah-SPAR)
Gauthier (go-TYEH)
Grégoire (greh-GWAR)
Guillaume (ghee-OHM)
Guy (GHEE)
Henri (on-REE)
Hugo (ew-GO)
Hugues (EWG)
Jean (ZHON)
Jean-Baptiste (ZHON bah-TEEST)
Jules (ZHEWL)
Léopold (leh-o-POHL)
Louis (loo-EE)
Martin (mar-TAN)
Matthieu (mah-TYUH)
Maxence (mack-SONCE)
Maxime (mack-SEEM)
Maximilien (mack-see-mee-LYAN)
Nicolas (nee-co-LAH)
Oscar (o-SCAR)
Paul (POHL)
Pierre (PYAIR)
Quentin (con-TAN)
Raphaël (rah-fah-EL)
Romain (ro-MAN)
Stanislas (stah-nee-SLASS)
Tanguy (ton-GHEE)
Théo (teh-O)
Théophile (teh-o-FEEL)
Thibault (tee-BO)
Thomas (to-MAH)
Timothée (tee-mo-TEH)
Tristan (tree-STON)
Victor (veek-TOR)Adèle (ah-DEL)
Adélaïde (ah-deh-lah-EED)
Agathe (ah-GAT)
Albane (ahl-BAHN)
Alexandra (ah-leck-son-DRAH)
Alice (ah-LEECE)
Aliénor (ah-lyeh-NOR)
Alix (ah-LEEKS)
Ambre (OMBR)
Amélie (ah-meh-LEE)
Angélique (on-zheh-LEEK)
Apolline (ah-po-LEEN)
Astrid (ah-STREED)
Aurélie (o-reh-LEE)
Blanche (BLONSH)
Camille (cah-MEE)
Capucine (cah-pew-SEEN)
Caroline (cah-ro-LEEN)
Charlotte (shahr-LOTE)
Chloé (clo-EH)
Claire (CLAIR)
Clara (clah-RAH)
Clémence (cleh-MONCE)
Colombe (coh-LOHMB)
Constance (cohn-STONCE)
Diane (DYAHN)
Domitille (do-mee-TEEL)
Éléonore (eh-leh-o-NOR)
Éloïse (eh-lo-EEZ)
Emma (eh-MAH)
Eugénie (uh-zheh-NEE)
Flore (FLOR)
Gabrielle (gah-bree-EL)
Hélène (eh-LEN)
Héloïse (eh-lo-EEZ)
Hermine (ehr-MEEN)
Hortense (or-TONCE)
Inès (ee-NESS)
Isaure (ee-ZOR)
Jeanne (ZHAHN)
Joséphine (zho-zeh-FEEN)
Julie (zhew-LEE)
Juliette (zhew-LYET)
Laetitia (leh-tee-SYAH)
Laure (LOR)
Lorraine (lo-REN)
Louise (loo-EEZ)
Lucie (lew-SEE)
Madeleine (mad-LEN)
Manon (mah-NOHN)
Margaux (mahr-GO)
Marguerite (mahr-guh-REET)
Marie (mah-REE)
Marine (mah-REEN)
Mathilde (mah-TEELD)
Obeline (ohb-LEEN)
Pauline (po-LEEN)
Philippine (fee-lee-PEEN)
Quitterie (keet-REE)
Sixtine - not sure on this prn...either sees-TEEN or seex-TEEN
Solène (so-LEN)
Sophie (so-FEE)
Valentin (vah-lon-TEEN)
Victoire (veek-TWAR)
Victoria (veek-to-RYAH)
Archived Thread - replies disabled
vote up1

Replies

Very, very intresting!+I live in a French-speaking area of Canada, so I'm much interested in this list.
Some of these names are used here, but many, not.
Benoit,Gaspard and Romain are common-ish, but only on men well over 60.
Tanguy is a chain store! (furniture.)
Guy is very common, alone or in combination..Jean-Guy, usually.
The naming preferences here are different from France, and more influenced by the English/U.S.
P.S.-Quite a few Jean-Paul, in memory of the late Pope.
Thanks for this!
vote up1
I like these:Antoine (on-TWON)
Armand (ahr-MON)
Arnaud (ahr-NO)
François (fron-SWA)
Jean-Baptiste (ZHON bah-TEEST)
Jules (ZHEWL)
Léopold (leh-o-POHL)
Louis (loo-EE)
Martin (mar-TAN)
Matthieu (mah-TYUH)
Paul (POHL)
Pierre (PYAIR)
Raphaël (rah-fah-EL)
Tristan (tree-STON)
Victor (veek-TOR)
Adèle (ah-DEL)
Aurélie (o-reh-LEE)
Camille (cah-MEE)
Caroline (cah-ro-LEEN)
Charlotte (shahr-LOTE)
Chloé (clo-EH)
Claire (CLAIR)
Gabrielle (gah-bree-EL)
Joséphine (zho-zeh-FEEN)
Juliette (zhew-LYET)
Laetitia (leh-tee-SYAH)
Marie (mah-REE)
Sophie (so-FEE)
Victoire (veek-TWAR)
Victoria (veek-to-RYAH)Armand and Francois are among my very favorite names.
vote up1
Thanks for this! I love Frence names. My favourites are Lucien and Marcel (boys) and Mireille and Delphine, not on this list.
One pronunciation above reminds me of the shampoo Timotei.
I'm so pleased that Marguerite and Paul are on the list - I love those too, and think they are unfairly neglected here.
Another name not on the list is Solange - I don't like it at all and a Frenchwoman told me it's very old-fashioned.
Margaux, not Margot, surprises me - it's the name of a wine, after which Hemingway's granddaughter was named! She seems to have set a fashion.
vote up1