As an avid forums reader/poster, I’ve gotten a pretty good idea of what’s stylish in the US and the UK. I don’t mean popular; I mean the fashionable, classy, not overused or dated names. I aspire to move to [name]France[/name] at one point in time, so I wanted to ask the experts: What names are considered stylish, classic, etc. in [name]France[/name]? As you can see from my signature, I’m totally in love with French names. Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks!
Not too sure of what’s the rage in [name]France[/name], but you and I share a love of two names-- [name]Zoe[/name] and Noemí. A name twin!
And [name]Elinor[/name] (though I prefer [name]Eleanor[/name]) and [name]Anastasia[/name] and [name]Cecilia[/name]… Dindlee, I love your names!
I’m not French, but behindthename.com has an excellent tool that lists the top names for different countries around the world. The most recent list for [name]France[/name] I kind fine is from 2010
This Meilleurs Prénoms is really helpful for name stats in [name]France[/name]: Guide des prénoms de garçons et de filles. Meilleurs Prenoms.com : signification et popularité de 20 000 prénoms
^ This page in particular are the “In Vogue” names, so it’s in categories of top names by year and by decade, climbing names, most common names from birth announcements, stats from Belgium, Switzerland, and Québec.
My chic artsy friends/acquaintances in [name]Paris[/name] have daughters named Maëlys, [name]Soline[/name], [name]Delphine[/name], [name]Luna[/name] & [name]Sasha[/name]. Only the first two are under one.
The most popular baby names in [name]France[/name] in 2010: Popular Names in France 2010 - Behind the Name
Thanks! I do love behindthename.com, but I don’t know if all the names in the top 100 are considered fashionable. I certainly like lots of them, but I’m sure that someone from a country that doesn’t speak English could look at the American top 100 and think that [name]Nevaeh[/name] is something everyone considers pretty. Same for the Meilleurs Prénoms site…
And I do adore Maëlys and [name]Delphine[/name] from your list, [name]Ottilie[/name]. Thanks!
I would think they are… but I guess we’d have to seek out name nerds in [name]France[/name] to really know! I’d love to go there and report back!
I can ask one of my friends for you if you want to, she lives in Marais and I’m sure she knows lot of other chic mamas with chic little babies.
Oh, [name]Ottilie[/name], you are an absolute darling. You don’t have to go to any trouble. And [name]Lizzy[/name] Q, I would love that too!
A friend of mine went searching for a very French name for her daughter and went with [name]Odette[/name] [name]Orelie[/name]. Accent on the middle e.
Nameberry has a blog about What is chic in [name]France[/name]. https://nameberry.com/blog/french-names-what’s-chic-now
Oh yes, Maëlys is a lovely uprising name (also the variations Maëlie and Maïlys). Out of the French kids I know, I’d say that the most chic names are something like [name]Fanny[/name] (obviously not very flattering in English), [name]Alix[/name], [name]Magali[/name], [name]Felicia[/name] and [name]Vienne[/name] for girls.
Ooh! I also love Maëlie, [name]Alix[/name] and [name]Vienne[/name]. And [name]Zelia[/name], your own name is quite lovely as well!
Also, do they often use this spelling of [name]Eleanor[/name]? [name]Just[/name] wondering, because I didn’t see it in their Top 500. And what about [name]Mary[/name] rather than [name]Marie[/name]? These are family names that I’d rather keep the spelling of, and I wonder if they would fit in over there.
I know an [name]Ali[/name]énor, and Éléonore seems to be the most popular spelling in [name]France[/name], but Élinor, [name]El[/name]éonor, and [name]El[/name]énore are all used ([name]El[/name]énore only has 3 uses, though).
A lot of French chic names here ([name]Isabelle[/name], [name]Genevieve[/name], [name]Aurelie[/name], [name]Caroline[/name], [name]Nathalie[/name], [name]Amelie[/name], [name]Charlotte[/name], etc.) are really quite dated there, from what I’ve heard. I’m not French, have never been there, but my best friend was French, and before she passed away we talked about names quite a lot. Her sister and I still talk about names now. She says that [name]Juliette[/name] is coming back into style there–it’s quite an old-fashioned name, and grandma names there are as chic in [name]France[/name] as grandma names here are. 
My friend’s sister’s cousin has three girls–[name]Agnes[/name], [name]Violette[/name], and [name]Daphne[/name]–and I think those are all semi-chic there, as well. I know of other babies named Ysaline and Avelaine and [name]Clementine[/name] (clay-mahn-teen), but I’m not sure if they’re just really unusual, or chic-and-unusual. I’m sorry, I really have no ideas to suggest how to find names that are chic there, I’ve just always gone off of what my friends have said.
I do know that random word names, like [name]Elle[/name] and [name]Jolie[/name] and [name]Belle[/name] and [name]Soleil[/name], etc. aren’t used in [name]France[/name] at all and the French pretty much find them absurd to be in use. And [name]Cosette[/name] is considered fairly ridiculous and teaseworthy, as well. And a lot of the popular names there ([name]Emma[/name], [name]Lola[/name], [name]Chloe[/name], [name]Zoe[/name], [name]Manon[/name], [name]Lilou[/name], etc.) are considered ridiculously cutesy and somewhat trashy, and a French berry definitely wouldn’t be suggesting them if there was a Nameberry for [name]France[/name].
Good luck!
Names of people I have heard of in [name]France[/name] (mostly student-age): Flandrine, [name]Fantine[/name], [name]Charlotte[/name], [name]Marie[/name]-[name]Charlotte[/name], [name]Marie[/name]-[name]Maxime[/name], [name]El[/name]éonore, Maïlys, Stéphanie, [name]Marie[/name], [name]Hortense[/name], [name]Camille[/name], [name]Rosa[/name], [name]Julie[/name], [name]Jennifer[/name], [name]Jessica[/name], [name]Pauline[/name], [name]Nathalie[/name], [name]Eva[/name], [name]Morgan[/name], Cécile, Clémence, [name]Lucie[/name], [name]Ariane[/name], Amélie, [name]Myriam[/name], [name]Carmen[/name], Axelle, Laura, Moïra, Ambre, Victoire, Eponine, Angèle, Appoline, Léa, Margot, Sarah, Astrid, Louison…
It’s hard to tell what’s considered “chic” though.
I’m french so I’ll be following this thread to see what people say 
I do find it a difficult question to answer from scratch. I’d have to get my french baby naming book but I’m not going home for more than a month. It gives a bit of a feel for which names are bourgeois and chic.
I think ashthedreamer is spot on though very good analysis. And I agree with lucialucentum, Éléonore is the most common of those names.
[name]Do[/name] steer clear of the top 20 names, I mean of course this advice sounds obvious but really those names sound very common and meh. I would say a sure-fire way to find a “chic” name in france is to use a very classic name, or royal name (not [name]Louis[/name] though, that is way overused here), something that has been underused for a while because it is old. (a couple of lists to start off with Guide des prénoms de garçons et de filles. Meilleurs Prenoms.com : signification et popularité de 20 000 prénoms Guide des prénoms de garçons et de filles. Meilleurs Prenoms.com : signification et popularité de 20 000 prénoms ). I suppose one could analyse what this says about french people but we really value these classic things, they have this aura of quality as opposed to modern quantity.
My super chic French cousins just had a little [name]Alma[/name], who is so beautiful, to go with sister Léonie. Other, slightly older, children from my French side of the family are Clémence, Noémi, [name]Jules[/name], [name]Emma[/name] (don’t think this is very chic over there now though) and [name]Victor[/name].