I can’t find Amour anywhere. Is it really not a name? If [name_u]Love[/name_u] is a name surely Amour is too right?
Amour is a name in the same sense that [name_u]Love[/name_u] is a name. Neither are traditional first names and have only come about as names by the recent further acceptance of words as names (traditional word names more often than not have ties to nature or virtues).
[name_f]Amoret[/name_f] is a name used in [name_u]Spenser[/name_u]'s the Faerie Queene. There is also [name_f]Amabel[/name_f] – latin for “lovable”. There is also [name_u]Amory[/name_u], which also has literary ties ([name_m]Fitzgerald[/name_m], “This Side of Paradise”) that come to mind as more established alternatives. Not sure if that matters to you or not!
Bottom line: Amour is a noun and nouns have become acceptable to use as people’s names, but you’re still naming your kid with a word that has little history of use as a name – not, say, like [name_f]Rose[/name_f], [name_u]Juniper[/name_u], [name_f]Luna[/name_f], [name_f]Pearl[/name_f], [name_f]Temperance[/name_f], [name_f]Clarity[/name_f], etc. But it could obtain that status in the decades to come, as [name_f]Lark[/name_f] and [name_u]Wren[/name_u] have gained popularity tremendously.
Personally, I prefer it as a middle name option.
Amour does have a pretty sound and meaning, and I like it in theory, but I took [name_m]French[/name_m] at school for years so it doesn’t feel name-y enough to use. I wouldn’t exactly consider [name_u]Love[/name_u] a name either. Amour would be nice for a pet though- or a sweet nickname for your husband!
I love the suggestions of [name_f]Amoret[/name_f] and [name_f]Amabel[/name_f], and there’s also [name_m]Amaury[/name_m] for a boy.
[name_f]Amoret[/name_f] is gorgeous. Thank you. Small crisis averted
Is Amour commonly used as a given name in [name_f]France[/name_f] or [name_m]Quebec[/name_m]? If not, I’d avoid using it. Bonfireazalea’s suggestion of [name_f]Amoret[/name_f] is lovely!
Amour is lovely, but hard to live up to. [name_f]Amoret[/name_f] is quite similar, but fairly livable.
No, I checked the [name_m]Quebec[/name_m] list and there were no babies named Amour in the last five years (the database only goes to 2007). I’ve never heard of it being used in [name_m]French[/name_m]. [name_m]Just[/name_m] because [name_u]Love[/name_u] can be used as a name in English doesn’t mean it works for other languages (except Russian, where Lyubov is a real name). Other examples: [name_f]Jewel[/name_f] is okay, [name_f]Bijou[/name_f] is not a name in [name_m]French[/name_m]. I really like the suggestion of [name_f]Amoret[/name_f].
@[name_f]Maggie[/name_f]- There’s a database of all the names used in [name_f]Canada[/name_f] in the past few years (the equivalent to the US "beyond the top 1000, I guess)? Could you please give me a link? One of the few things that make me wish I was American is better stats of pretty much any kind…
Sadly, there’s no [name_f]Canada[/name_f]-wide database that I know of. I would [name_u]LOVE[/name_u] to see better name stats for [name_f]Canada[/name_f]. The only one I know is [name_m]Quebec[/name_m] and it’s pretty awesome, plus cool to see the names that make the top 20 there, but not in English [name_f]Canada[/name_f] (like [name_f]Florence[/name_f] and [name_m]Olivier[/name_m]): http://www.rrq.gouv.qc.ca/Interactif/PR2I121_Prenoms/PR2I121_Prenoms/PR2SPrenoms.aspx
Thanks, very interesting to look at! [name_f]Camille[/name_f] and [name_u]Antoine[/name_u] in the top 20, wow. I’m assuming some of these names would have accents on them- e.g. [name_f]Beatrice[/name_f] and [name_m]Etienne[/name_m] would be Béatrice and Étienne? [name_f]Do[/name_f] the birth certificates not have them and they’re just used unofficially, or just that the list doesn’t include them?
Thanks so much for the link to this database! And look at #10 and #11 on the boys list, adjacent to each other. 
It’s interesting how fiercely francophile [name_m]Quebec[/name_m] has still followed the larger [name_m]French[/name_m] trend of international & English names. I thought politically that would be taboo.
@Bonfireazalea: Birth certificates definitely can have accents on them. I know, because I have one on mine, and on my passport too. (Middle name is Clémence). I think there are no accents on the list because all the names are in caps. You don’t put an accent on a letter once it’s capitalized. You make a good point though. It would be interesting to know how many babies are Béatrice and now many are [name_f]Beatrice[/name_f]. A friend of mine in Montreal just named a daughter Chloé, and it’s pronounced differently than [name_f]Chloe[/name_f].
[name_u]True[/name_u], I wouldn’t expect names like [name_m]William[/name_m] to rate so high. It would be interesting to see a breakdown between popular names in multi-cultural and (somewhat) anglo-influenced Montreal and popular names in the more traditional other areas of the province.
Thanks, how did I not know that despite taking [name_m]French[/name_m] all the way through high school? :o (I couldn’t fit a [name_m]French[/name_m] class into my schedule but maybe next year…)
Your middle name is Clémence? Cool, so much prettier than [name_f]Clemence[/name_f] (English prn). Are you [name_m]French[/name_m] Canadian and/or from [name_m]Quebec[/name_m]?
Thanks! I am a stickler for the accent because it sounds so different in English. [name_f]My[/name_f] mom is very anglo-Canadian (Scottish, English mostly) and my dad was born in the [name_m]French[/name_m]-speaking part of Belgium. He immigrated as a child. Clémence is after my great aunt. I never liked it growing up, but now I love the link to my family and the incredibly nerdy fact that both [name_f]Maggie[/name_f] and Clémence are names of actors in the [name_m]Harry[/name_m] [name_m]Potter[/name_m] films. 