As a [name_m]French[/name_m] speaker, I have many names I like, and in all probability could use if I only ever planned to live in a [name_m]French[/name_m] speaking country. However, I am also [name_f]English[/name_f] and have non-French speaking family who may struggle if I was to use certain names. I have listed my favourite girls names below and tried my best to give an accurate phonetic translation. I’d love it if any non-french speakers could give me their thoughts on if they think any of the names could be usable in an [name_f]English[/name_f] setting. Basically, I would only use the name if the correct pronunciation could be used. I have a list of names that I know work well in both accents, this is just my more accent heavy list! I know there are other factors to consider in this scenario however, for the time being, all I am looking for is if you feel you could get your head around any of the names or if they are a bit too complicated to pronounce!
[name_f]Agathe[/name_f] (ah-gat)
[name_f]Bertille[/name_f] (behr-tee)
[name_f]Capucine[/name_f] (ca-puh-seen)
[name_f]Cécile[/name_f] (seh-sille)
[name_f]Clémence[/name_f] (cleh-monse)
[name_f]Faustine[/name_f] (fau-steen)
[name_f]Garance[/name_f] (Gah-rohnse)
[name_f]Hortense[/name_f] (Or-tonse)
[name_f]Liliane[/name_f] (Lily-ah-ne)
[name_f]Lilou[/name_f] (lee-lou)
[name_f]Sibylle[/name_f] (si-beel)
For the names [name_f]Agathe[/name_f] and [name_f]Liliane[/name_f], the “ah" sound is the same as in the word “at.”
For [name_f]Garance[/name_f], the r is fricative.
Many thanks,
EleanorVintage
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Honestly, I think all of them are useable in the sense that you could teach the pronunciations and none are awkward or inappropriate. But in terms of which names I instinctively pronounced (close to) correctly as an [name_f]English[/name_f] speaker:
[name_f]Cecile[/name_f], [name_f]Faustine[/name_f], [name_f]Liliane[/name_f] and [name_f]Lilou[/name_f].
[name_f]Capucine[/name_f] I also pronounced correctly and think is lovely, but it is similar to the word cappuccino, which might give some pause. There are also some names I absolutely love (Garance and [name_f]Agathe[/name_f] in particular) but I think would probably need a touch more coaching for the average [name_f]English[/name_f] speaker to pronounce.
I can also speak [name_m]French[/name_m] (but definitely not to the same extent as you - haven’t spoken it in over 4 years haha). I know how to pronounce these names because I’m a name nerd but if I hadn’t seen these names before and wasn’t applying any of the [name_m]French[/name_m] “phonetic rules” to them, this is how I imagine they’d be pronounced (I can also DM you the IPA versions if you’d like!).
[name_f]Agathe[/name_f]: ah-guth or ah-guth-ee
[name_f]Bertille[/name_f]: ber-till (2nd syllable rhyming with until)
[name_f]Capucine[/name_f]: ca-puh-cheen (just missing the “o” off cappucino - I agree that it probably isn’t one to be used in an English-speaking country)
[name_f]Cécile[/name_f]: seh-seel (pretty close)
[name_f]Clémence[/name_f]: cleh-muns (2nd syllable rhyming with [name_f]Florence[/name_f] in English)
[name_f]Faustine[/name_f]: faw-steen (close)
[name_f]Garance[/name_f]: gah-runs (again, 2nd syllable rhyming with [name_f]Florence[/name_f] in English)
[name_f]Hortense[/name_f]: hor-tense (like the words whore + tense - probably best not to use in an English-speaking country…)
[name_f]Liliane[/name_f]: lily-ann (just like Lily-Anne)
[name_f]Lilou[/name_f]: lee-lou (same!)
[name_f]Sibylle[/name_f]: si-bull (just like [name_f]Sybil[/name_f] Fawlty)
I’ve worked with kids here in Australia with names which have [name_f]English[/name_f] pronunciations, but are not pronounced the [name_f]English[/name_f] way (think [name_m]Thomas[/name_m] or [name_f]Jade[/name_f] in the [name_m]French[/name_m] pronunciation for example). And once someone is corrected on how to say their name, they usually don’t forget. But initially their name would almost always be pronounced in the [name_f]English[/name_f] way. With this in mind, I’d think [name_f]Lilou[/name_f] would be your best choice, followed by [name_f]Cécile[/name_f] and [name_f]Faustine[/name_f]!
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I’m not a [name_m]French[/name_m] speaker, I have no trouble at all with [name_f]Cecile[/name_f] or [name_f]Lilou[/name_f], and could learn for the other pronunciations. Only one I think would not work in an English-speaking area is [name_f]Hortense[/name_f] because it would remind people of an [name_f]English[/name_f] swear word.
[name_f]Cécile[/name_f], [name_f]Faustine[/name_f], [name_f]Garance[/name_f], and [name_f]Lilou[/name_f] are the ones I automatically got right.
Most of them wouldn’t be intuitive to me (except for Cécile, Faustine & Lilou) but I think if I heard someone out loud introducing herself with any of these names, I could easily adjust to the French pronunciation!
Some that I find a little tricky are Clémence, Garance and Hortense. I want to pronounce them as kleh-mehns, gah-rahns & hor-tehns, instead of the “onse” ending sound you describe, since there’s no “o” in the name. I feel like that’s a subtle difference in the vowel sounds that non Francophones would struggle with and maybe unintentionally ignore, because it’s easy to miss if you’re not paying attention & not very intuitive. Also, I wouldn’t be able to pronounce the R of Garance the way the French do.
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I don’t speak a lick of [name_m]French[/name_m], and live in the US. my quick thoughts:
Automatic/intuitive: [name_f]Lilou[/name_f], [name_f]Liliane[/name_f], [name_f]Cécile[/name_f], [name_f]Faustine[/name_f]
Had to pause: [name_f]Capucine[/name_f], [name_f]Clémence[/name_f], [name_f]Sibylle[/name_f]
Hardest to say/Couldn’t say without seeing how it’s pronounced: [name_f]Agathe[/name_f], [name_f]Bertille[/name_f], [name_f]Garance[/name_f], [name_f]Hortense[/name_f]
If I had to narrow it down to an “easiest” one, I would go with [name_f]Lilou[/name_f]. [name_f]Liliane[/name_f] is a close second, but I do think some [name_f]English[/name_f] speakers would say Lily-Anne.
I think they are all usable and you could get a close, but not exact, approximation of the pronunciation you would want. So if it’s exact pronunciation that you want, some of these I think would work others would be more difficult
As an [name_f]English[/name_f] speaker (though I do have familiarity with french) this is how I would intuitively pronounce these names.
[name_f]Agathe[/name_f]- ah-gath or ah-gat (ah like in apple)
[name_f]Bertille[/name_f]- bur-til or bur-teel
[name_f]Capucine[/name_f]- cap-you-seen (though cap-uh-seen might be a more typical pronunciation thanks to the familiarity of capuccino)
[name_f]Cecile[/name_f]- suh-seel
[name_f]Clemence[/name_f]- clem-mense
[name_f]Faustine[/name_f]- fow-steen or fah-steen
[name_f]Garance[/name_f]- gare-ense
[name_f]Hortense[/name_f]- hore (like horse)-tense
[name_f]Liliane[/name_f]- either exactly like [name_f]Lillian[/name_f] or lily-anne
[name_f]Lilou[/name_f]- lee-loo
[name_f]Sibylle[/name_f]- sih-bul
I could get my head round these - some might take some learning/remembering but I don’t find them too hard. Maybe it’s working at a school/with kids, but there are so, so many names out there, many I don’t know how to say on reading them, but you just have to learn. And some people won’t. Some people will just wilfully not learn, some won’t remember, but I think they’re usable.
Admittedly I do find the sound of [name_f]Garance[/name_f] hard to say without sounding like I’m doing a forced/fake/slightly satirical [name_m]French[/name_m] accent - but I’ve never studied [name_m]French[/name_m], so that doesn’t help.
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I agree with this. I think this would be the hardest part for most [name_f]English[/name_f] speakers.
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[name_f]Cécile[/name_f] & [name_f]Lilou[/name_f] are easiest to pronounce for me as an [name_f]English[/name_f] speaker and are very beautiful!