[name]Hi[/name] All,
I’m back 2 years later and still just as lost in the name game We are expecting a little girl in about 3 months and have made no progress on names. We are a bilingual french english family though we speak only french at home but live as expats in the middle east. Our permanent home will probably be french speaking switzerland but definitely want a name that’s pronouncable in english as well. [name]Add[/name] to that I’m jewish but dh is not, so including that in the name could be nice but is not necessary. We have a 2 yo son Noé [name]Ilan[/name] and a very typical 2 syllable last name ending in -ah sound. Could you please help us name our daughter?
Some ideas :
Salomé - I love it, dh hates it
[name]Camille[/name] - dh loves it, I don’t
[name]Eugenie[/name] - I love it, dh hates it
[name]Alix[/name] - dh loves it, I’m unconvinced
[name]Eloise[/name] / Héloise - we more or less agree but I’m not sure it’s love
[name]El[/name]éonore / [name]Ali[/name]énor - I prefer [name]Ali[/name]énor but dh sees Alien, not sure either of us loves it
Yaël - we both like it, but is it too jewish /too hard for english speakers to say?
[name]Mathilde[/name] - maybe?
Schehérazade - my dirty little secret that I love but would never dare to use
Would love to hear your ideas on these and any other suggestions, [name]TIA[/name]!
[name]Camille[/name] is very pretty, and I love [name]Eugenie[/name]. I don’t think [name]Yael[/name] would be too hard for English speakers, and it’s a beautiful name. Perhaps Yoela, if you think [name]Yael[/name] might be a problem? [name]Salome[/name] is ok, but maybe [name]Simone[/name] would be good?
What about a more common Jewish name? (I’m not sure if there are any French equivalents of some of these.)
Or other Jewish names not so common (but easy to pronounce)?
[name]Adina[/name]
[name]Aliza[/name]
[name]Ariela[/name]
[name]Davida[/name]
Einat
Ivriya
[name]Moriah[/name]
Neri
Renana
[name]Tirzah[/name] (this is my favorite)
[name]Tova[/name]
We don’t have kids yet but Im always trying to think of the right name for our French/English speaking household. Im mainly into retro/BCBG names, not sure thats your style though. What names does your husband like? I would be interested to know if it’s similar to mine.
Bérénice
célestine (Love because of Ernest and Célestine books!)
Azélie
eugénie
Thaïs
Bénédicte
Blandine
Domitille
Eléonore (on my list)
Garance (love, very classic)
Isaure (love too)
Victoire
Ombeline (cute but not sure it would age well)
Constantine
Octavie
Colombe (good compromise over Salome?)
Augustine
Baptistine
Appolline
Astrée (not sure because its also starfish)
Albane
Louise
Bérangère (on my list)
Léonie
Clémence
Margot
Ludivine
Maëlle
Honorine
Axelle
Agathe
I looked up Jewish names because I know nothing about them and came across the following, maybe these would work?
Noémie,
Oriane,
Abigaëlle,
Maé (love this! easy to prn, very popular right now!)
Manon (very common but I like it)
Ysaline
I love [name]Yael[/name], its a fantastic name, and as an English-speaker, I don’t think its hard to say at all. And it goes with [name]Noe[/name] beautifully.
It’s probably best not to use a name that one of you hates, so I suppose Salomé, [name]Camille[/name], and [name]Eugenie[/name] have to be taken of your list (I really like Salomé too though.). If you are not sure about [name]Alix[/name], is [name]Alice[/name] any better? I personally love [name]Eloise[/name] (not Héloise as much), and it does sound nice with Noé. [name]El[/name]éonore/[name]Ali[/name]énor is one of my favorite names (with the spelling [name]Eleanor[/name], which is more common in [name]America[/name], though). However, it doesn’t work as well with Noé because there are too many “n’s,” “o’s,” and “e’s” in the name. Yaël is a nice option. It sounds good with Noé and I like its Hebrew origins. I don’t think it would be any more difficult for English speakers to pronounce than Noé. [name]Mathilde[/name] is a nice name too. I am glad that you are not serious about Schehérazade.
Time for suggestions…
[name]How[/name] about Estée? It was the nickname [name]Josephine[/name] [name]Esther[/name] Mentzer, later known as Estée Lauder, the founder of the cosmetics company of the same name. This way, her name would have roots in the Biblical [name]Esther[/name] but would still sound French.
Also, what about [name]Margot[/name]? It is not traditionally a Jewish name, but I always think of it as one because of [name]Margot[/name] [name]Frank[/name], [name]Anne[/name] [name]Frank[/name]'s older sister.
You could also consider [name]Arielle[/name]. [name]Ariel[/name] is Biblical, and [name]Arielle[/name] is obviously the French feminine form.
I knew a lovely girl named [name]Yael[/name], and I think it’s a wonderful choice. She pronounced it Ya-el, like two syllables, but many people would just pronounce it Yell. I don’t know if you would have the same problems with pronunciations in other parts of the world… I think it’s great with [name]Noe[/name]!
I really like both Éloïse & Héloïse… and that reminds me how pretty I find Hélène. I like [name]El[/name]éonore a lot, and [name]Ali[/name]énor is lovely as well. [name]Mathilde[/name] is very pretty, too.
[name]Esther[/name]
[name]Eve[/name]/ Ève
[name]Junia[/name]/ Iunia
[name]Yseult[/name]
Ismène (I [name]LOVE[/name] this one! It’s so lovely in French)
[name]Colombe[/name]
Séfora/ Séphora (I love this one, too! I’ve heard Séfora a few times in Spain, and I think it’s gorgeous. [name]Both[/name] these spellings are used in [name]France[/name]… I’m not sure about Switzerland, but it’d probably be all right. I think this would be perfect with Noé)
Thanks for all of your input! Yes, agreed that any names one of us hates are off the table, it was more just to give you a feel for our styles. thtxbelle - I would characterise my style as bcbg too, you and I have alot of overlaps but my husband is more into very short more modern feeling names. I think [name]Leah[/name] and Léonie are off the table because they are too similar to my name, and Noémie is too close to Noé. I do love Léonie though. I’d never thought of [name]El[/name]éonore as being too matchy but now that you mention it je m’appelle, it does look a bit odd. . .
I quite like [name]Margot[/name], will have to talk to dh about that one. [name]Esther[/name] and [name]Eve[/name] have distinct possibilities as well, though perhaps more as middle names. It’s nice to hear that most people don’t find Yaël too difficult, I do worry about the ‘Yell’ problem, since I already have a ‘No way.’ Today it seems as though Eloïse / Héloïse (pronounced the same way) are in the lead though that will probably change tomorrow.
Thanks for all of your help, it seems like I knew exactly what I would name a little girl when I was pregnant with Noé and now I can only think of names for little boys :-).
We are expecting a little girl in about 3 months and have made no progress on names. We are a bilingual french english family though we speak only french at home but live as expats in the middle east. Our permanent home will probably be french speaking switzerland but definitely want a name that’s pronouncable in english as well. [name]Add[/name] to that I’m jewish but dh is not, so including that in the name could be nice but is not necessary. We have a 2 yo son Noé [name]Ilan[/name] and a very typical 2 syllable last name ending in -ah sound. Could you please help us name our daughter?
I don’t know if you would have the same problems with pronunciations in other parts of the world… I think it’s great with [name]Noe[/name]!