( Étienne - Baby Name Meaning, Origin, and Popularity | Nameberry )
WDYT, and is it “too [name_m]French[/name_m]” for use in [name_u]America[/name_u]? I honestly think it sounds close enough to mega-popular [name_u]Aiden[/name_u]/[name_u]Aidan[/name_u] to be usable…
As much as I love [name_m]Etienne[/name_m], I really don’t think it’s usable in the US.
I love it, and I actually think it’s pretty obvious how it’s supposed to be pronounced, give or take a few accent issues. If I were [name_m]French[/name_m] or married to a Frenchman I would definitely consider it. Otherwise, it’s not really an international name, so I would feel odd about using it without a connection to [name_f]France[/name_f] or another [name_m]French[/name_m]-speaking country.
I second it being not usable in the US. Although I am admittedly not American. But from the time I have spent there I would say def not. I would even be hesitant of using it on an English kid in canada, because I feel people would constantly assume he is francophone. I love the name too though. I know a few men with the name, all are double barrel names though like [name_m]Marc[/name_m]- etienne.
I agree with jackal. I love the name [name_m]Etienne[/name_m] and have for years, but I don’t consider it to be usable on a non-Francophone child.
As @jackal said, Étienne is far from difficult to pronounce for English speakers, so I don’t think you should let pronunciation issues stop you from using it. [name_f]My[/name_f] great-grandmother’s brother was called Étienne (and their brother [name_u]Jean[/name_u] [name_m]Baptiste[/name_m], it doesn’t get more old-school [name_m]French[/name_m] than that) and I absolutely love the name.
More nerdy Americans will probably be familiar with this name…it’s [name_u]Remy[/name_u] LeBeau’s (from X-Men) middle name, and there’s going to be a [name_f]Marvel[/name_f] movie entirely about him. So I think its usable.
However, I will say I would find it bizarre if I met an Étienne who didn’t speak [name_m]French[/name_m].
I wouldn’t say ‘too french’ and it isn’t an awful name, but it’s a little bit feminine sounding to me and I think it would be mispronounced a lot.
Étienne seems perfectly usable to me, I’m surprised so many think otherwise. (I speak some [name_m]French[/name_m] but am by no means fluent.) It feels classy and intellectual but earthy at the same time, what I’d call “soft but strong.”
[name_u]Love[/name_u] this name!
Am not sure why someone would have to be [name_m]French[/name_m] to use this name any more than someone would have to be Greek, English, [name_f]Indian[/name_f], or Chinese to use those names.
I think it’s usable and the more I say it out loud the more I believe it would work on an American child.
The pronunciation wouldn’t be too different but (at least in my area) I think it would get slightly ‘Americanized’ to something like EDienne around hear they tend to be lazy with their ‘t’ sound
[name_m]Etienne[/name_m] is so handsome! I love it. And I’m not [name_m]French[/name_m].
I love the name Étienne! I grew up with an Étienne in Suburban [name_f]Victoria[/name_f], Aus and the kid was not [name_m]French[/name_m] at all (I think he may have had some [name_m]French[/name_m] ancestry) and he wore his name well. In Aus at least I’d say it’s perfectly usable, especially in capital cities. The only time I’d tell people to think twice was if they wanted to use it on a girl…
I think it’s usable and I absolutely love it!
I do. I know an [name_m]Etienne[/name_m]. No one has any problems with it.
[name_m]Etienne[/name_m] is one of my favorite boy names. I am [name_m]French[/name_m] and married to a Romanian-American and I always lament that if I was married to a Frenchman I could use [name_m]Etienne[/name_m], Grégoire or [name_m]Pierre[/name_m], or even [name_m]Pierre[/name_m]-[name_m]Etienne[/name_m], the only double-barrel name I like. But we didn’t consider [name_m]Etienne[/name_m] for our son because it would really have cornered him as “100% [name_m]French[/name_m]”, if it makes any sense (not that it’s a bad thing, of course !), and my husband thought it might have teasing potential outside our little circles in academia or outside [name_f]France[/name_f] (well, in [name_f]France[/name_f] too, to be honest, since [name_m]Etienne[/name_m] is the title-name of a hit song from the eighties of dubious taste). But I still love the name, and always will !!!
I always thought it was beautiful for a girl maybe if there were some [name_m]French[/name_m] heritage…
I think the actual danger of such a bizarre choice would be from people who had no [name_m]French[/name_m] heritage whatsoever. If you actually were [name_m]French[/name_m], I don’t think it’s likely you’d want to use a [name_m]French[/name_m] boy’s name for a daughter. This would be just as silly as naming a girl [name_m]Stephen[/name_m].