French names- love 'em or hate 'em?

I have a love for beautiful french names for girls. I would love to use a French name someday, but I’m not French! [name]Do[/name] you like these French girl’s names, and are they usable if I’m not French?

[name]Paris[/name]

[name]Elise[/name]

[name]Nicolette[/name]

[name]Lucie[/name] (nn [name]Lulu[/name])

I love french girl names, and not being french wouldn’t put me off using them!

My French name picks would be [name]Fleur[/name], [name]Colette[/name] and [name]Celeste[/name].

Not a huge fan of [name]Paris[/name], I think of it as a place name, not neccessarily a “French name”. Not a fan of [name]Lucie[/name] either, but [name]Elice[/name] and [name]Nicolette[/name] are both pretty. I don’t think it metters if you’re not French, as names are pretty much global these days. A lot of the names we’d think of as ‘traditional English’ are actually Greek or [name]German[/name] anyway.

I love French names! A lot of the names on my girls’ list are the French variants ([name]Isabelle[/name] over [name]Isabella[/name], [name]Arianne[/name] over [name]Ariana[/name], [name]Charlotte[/name]–which is and has been quite popular in [name]France[/name]–etc., not to mention MNs like [name]Odette[/name] and [name]Camille[/name]). I think it was more of a subconscious choice, but my best friend was French, and she passed away last [name]December[/name], so I guess it’s sort of a way to honor her.

Erm, [name]Paris[/name] really isn’t a French girls’ name. I really doubt it would actually be used in [name]France[/name], and a French person would be really confused by it as a name (as they would for [name]Elle[/name], [name]Belle[/name], or [name]Jolie[/name]–they’re French words to them, not really names). It’s a nice name with French connotations (although I prefer [name]Parisa[/name], personally), but it’s just technically not a French name. :slight_smile: [name]Just[/name] wanted to point that out. I do adore [name]Elise[/name], though, it’s so sweet and charming and an understated, beautiful French choice. I think [name]Lucie[/name] and [name]Nicolette[/name] are beautiful, as well, although I can’t help but think of “Nicorette” instead of [name]Nicolette[/name] every time I see it. :frowning:

As long as it’s not too over-board French, I think it’s fine! I’m mostly English, [name]German[/name], and Welsh (with an itty bit of French) and I would still use French names. I think they’re gorgeous, and they’re very in-style in [name]America[/name] now.

A few other gorgeous French options:

[name]Anais[/name] (ah-nah-EES)
[name]Genevieve[/name] (in French, it’s zhahn-vee-EHV, as opposed to the more English [name]Gen[/name]-uh-veev)
[name]Liliane[/name] (lil-YAHN; lil-ee-AHN–with the second pronunciation, the "E"s are very rushed, though, so it sounds very close to lil-YAHN. I love this!)
[name]Camille[/name]
[name]Odette[/name]
[name]Isabelle[/name]
[name]Arianne[/name]
[name]Arielle[/name]
[name]Aurelie[/name] (in French, oh-ray-lee)
[name]Aurore[/name] (I think this is gorgeous, but I think it’d be quite problematic in [name]America[/name]. [name]Aurora[/name] is just easier.)
Olivie
[name]Ophelie[/name] (oh-fay-lee in French)
[name]Anne[/name]-[name]Sophie[/name] (ahn-soh-[name]FEE[/name])
[name]Alienor[/name] (really old French form of [name]Eleanor[/name]; said ah-lee-AY-nore)
[name]Adeline[/name]
[name]Aveline[/name]
[name]Anabelle[/name]
[name]Prune[/name] (obviously not very usable in the US, lol, but I think it sounds adorable in a French accent and the nn [name]Pru/name is adorable)
[name]Capucine[/name] (cap-oo-seen. I love this! It’s a French nature name that’s rarely (if ever) heard here, but it’s fairly popular in [name]France[/name]. My friend knew the cutest little girl named [name]Capucine[/name], she went by Capu. [name]Elise[/name] [name]Capucine[/name] was an old combo on my list, I still really love it.)
[name]Charlotte[/name]
[name]Claudie[/name]
[name]Sylvie[/name]
[name]Sophie[/name]
[name]Natalie[/name]
[name]Delphine[/name] (dated in [name]France[/name], from what I understand, but it’s an underused beauty in the US!)
[name]Josephine[/name]
[name]Agathe[/name] ([name]LOVE[/name] the French version of [name]Agatha[/name], too. [name]Said[/name] ah-GAHT.)
[name]Elisabeth[/name] (French variation of [name]Elizabeth[/name])
[name]Eloise[/name]
[name]Emilie[/name]
[name]Elodie[/name]
[name]Emeline[/name]
[name]Clemence[/name]/[name]Clementine[/name] (in French, said clay-MOHNSE and [name]CLAY[/name]-mahn-teen)
Esmee (you could also use [name]Esme[/name], but if you’re wanting to use it because it’s French, I would go with the French feminine spelling. Technically, [name]Esme[/name] is the masculine/unisex spelling)
[name]Estelle[/name]
[name]Eulalie[/name] (this is adorable, but the differences between American and French pronunciation is huge. In [name]France[/name], it’s like euh (not quite oo, but not quite eh either)-lah-lee, but in [name]America[/name], it’s YOO-lay-lee.)
[name]Eugenie[/name]
Felicite (fay-lee-see-tay. French version of [name]Felicity[/name]. :slight_smile: I think it’s cute, but [name]Felicity[/name] is so much easier to deal with)
[name]Amelie[/name] (my friend’s name. :slight_smile: Pronounced ah-MILL-ee or ah-[name]MAY[/name]-lee, depending where you go in [name]France[/name]. She said it with the Mill sound)
[name]Fleur[/name] (her nn. Well, [name]Fleurette[/name]. I think [name]Fleur[/name] is adorable.)
[name]Giselle[/name]
[name]Helene[/name]
[name]Josiane[/name] (josie-ahn)
[name]Juliette[/name]
[name]Laure[/name] (love this! I think [name]Anne[/name]-[name]Laure[/name] is a cute double-name, too, although I prefer [name]Anne[/name]-[name]Sophie[/name], personally)
[name]Leonie[/name] (in French, it’s said [name]LAY[/name]-oh-nee)
[name]Madeleine[/name] (pronounced mad-eh-len. I think [name]Madelaine[/name], mad-eh-lane, is gorgeous, too, and a site I found it on said it was French, as well…)
[name]Margaux[/name] (French version of [name]Margot[/name]/[name]Margo[/name])
[name]Mirabelle[/name]
[name]Mireille[/name] (mee-[name]RAY[/name]. In [name]America[/name], it translates a bit more to muh-[name]RAY[/name])
[name]Caroline[/name] (said care-oh-leen in French, though)
[name]Noelle[/name]
Nadege (French version of [name]Nadia[/name]. Means hope. nah-DEZH.)
[name]Noemie[/name]
[name]Oceane[/name] (oh-say-ahn)
[name]Renee[/name]
[name]Rosalie[/name]
[name]Violette[/name]
[name]Vivienne[/name]
[name]Victoire[/name] (French version of [name]Victoria[/name])
[name]Zoe[/name]

I didn’t use accents because I really can’t do it on my laptop, but a lot of these do have at least one accent, maybe even two or three, depending on the name.

Good luck!

I like the three that you mentioned, expect [name]Paris[/name]. But I don’t particularly like place/word names. And you could of course use them if you aren’t French; doesn’t matter these days! :-).

I like [name]Fleur[/name], [name]Rosalie[/name], [name]Elodie[/name], [name]Natalie[/name] and [name]Esme[/name].

I’m attaching a link to the most popular names in [name]France[/name]. Many of the more popular ones would be quite recognizable to Americans. I might stay away from names that are difficult for English speakers to pronounce. Also, if a name is spelled the same as an English name, but pronounced differently, like [name]Chloe[/name], I don’t think you’ll be able to get people to use the French pronunciation.

I love French names, but I’m a quarter French. [name]Even[/name] if I wasn’t, I would resist using them. My favorites would prbably be [name]Anais[/name], [name]Anouk[/name], [name]Genevieve[/name], [name]Helene[/name], [name]Leonie[/name], [name]Esme[/name], [name]Adele[/name]/[name]Adelaide[/name], [name]Elise[/name], [name]Fleur[/name], [name]Agnes[/name], ect.
I like [name]Elise[/name] and [name]Luci[/name] from your list, but I don’t care for [name]Nicolette[/name] (Nicorette) or [name]Paris[/name] (don’t think that’s actually a given name in [name]France[/name].)

  • [name]Athena[/name]

I like the French way of spelling [name]Emily[/name] ([name]Emilie[/name]) and it is very cute with the French accent thrown in as well.

I like a lot of french names for girls. The only name from your list that I can say I don’t like is [name]Paris[/name]. It reminds me too much of [name]Paris[/name] [name]Hilton[/name].
[name]Nicolette[/name] is the name of my husband’s best friends daughter. They aren’t french, but I think they really love French name because they also chose [name]Vivienne[/name] and [name]Yvette[/name] for their other daughters. It is pretty, but very frilly for me.

Generally, I don’t go for French names, but there’s some exceptions, such as:

[name]Charlotte[/name]
[name]Colette[/name]
[name]Brigitte[/name] (mainly due to the [name]Brigitte[/name] [name]Bardot[/name] association)
[name]Oceane[/name] (really GP for me)