Help with French girl names

Hi everyone! I’m having a daughter and my husband and I are really struggling with names. We both have French roots and would love to name our little girl a French name, but one that is pronounceable in British English. We really love classical, timeless names. Both my husband and I are historians settled around the Golden Age of Piracy (we love that era and lot of our research went into 18th century names). Below is a list of names we are considering, but I haven’t fallen in love with any of them just yet. Some of our favourites have been Ciel, Odette, Zephyrine, and Elodie, but I’m worried about their pronunciations in English. I would love any suggestions to add to this list as well as thoughts about the listed names! Middle names would be a lovely suggestion as well.

Marie
Perrine
Cécile
Odette
Clémence
Constance
Margaux
Céleste
Madeleine
Zephyrine
Marinette
Josette
Mariette
Liliane
Séraphine
Joséphine
Félicité
Marianne
Elodie
Auriane
Coralie
Estelle
Etoile
Faune
Hinda
Ingrid
Cora
Ciel

I really love [name_u]French[/name_u] girls names!!

[name_f]Anneliese[/name_f]
[name_f]Anna[/name_f]
Juliet/Juliette
[name_f]Charlotte[/name_f]
[name_f]Caroline[/name_f]
[name_f]Genevieve[/name_f]
Vivienne/Vivian/Vivien/Vivianne
[name_f]Guinevere[/name_f]
Estelle/Estella
[name_f]Belle[/name_f]
[name_f]Victoria[/name_f]
[name_u]Louise[/name_u]
Stephanie/Stefanie
[name_f]Isabelle[/name_f]
[name_f]Elisabeth[/name_f]

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You have a lovely list so far!

[name_f]My[/name_f] favourites:

[name_f]Perrine[/name_f] - distinctive and lovely
[name_f]Odette[/name_f] - snappy and stylish
[name_f]Constance[/name_f] - elegant and strong
[name_f]Margaux[/name_f] - warm and elegant
[name_u]Celeste[/name_u] - sleek but cosy
[name_f]Josette[/name_f] - snappy and stylish - sharp but sweet
[name_f]Elodie[/name_f] - lively, bright and bouncy (for what it’s worth, it’s in the UK top 100)
[name_f]Coralie[/name_f] - lively and lovely
[name_f]Estelle[/name_f] - sleek, starry and swish
[name_f]Cora[/name_f] - bright and cool
[name_f]Zephyrine[/name_f] - distinctive and celestial

I’ll throw in the suggestions of:

[name_f]Marcelle[/name_f] / Marcelline
[name_f]Genevieve[/name_f]
[name_f]Celine[/name_f]
[name_f]Ondine[/name_f]
[name_f]Solange[/name_f]
[name_f]Noemie[/name_f]
[name_f]Sidonie[/name_f]
[name_f]Angelique[/name_f]
[name_f]Zelie[/name_f]
[name_f]Edmee[/name_f]
Eudoxie
[name_f]Eulalie[/name_f]
Sylvanie
[name_f]Rosine[/name_f]

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I think the following are most accessible in an English-speaking context:

[name_u]Marie[/name_u], [name_f]Cecile[/name_f], [name_f]Odette[/name_f], [name_f]Constance[/name_f], [name_f]Margaux[/name_f] (sans spelling ambiguity), [name_u]Celeste[/name_u], [name_f]Madeleine[/name_f] (sans spelling ambiguity), [name_f]Josette[/name_f], [name_f]Seraphine[/name_f], [name_f]Josephine[/name_f], [name_f]Marianne[/name_f], [name_f]Elodie[/name_f], [name_f]Coralie[/name_f], [name_f]Estelle[/name_f], [name_f]Ingrid[/name_f], and [name_f]Cora[/name_f].

[name_u]Ciel[/name_u] and [name_f]Zephyrine[/name_f] aren’t unusable, but they are much more unfamiliar.

[name_f]My[/name_f] personal favorites from your list are [name_u]Marie[/name_u], [name_f]Cecile[/name_f], [name_f]Josette[/name_f], [name_f]Seraphine[/name_f], and [name_f]Estelle[/name_f]! I am from [name_f]Louisiana[/name_f] so we have a lot of [name_u]French[/name_u] names here too. Here are some that I like that also work well in an English-speaking context:

[name_f]Adele[/name_f]
[name_f]Aimee[/name_f]
[name_f]Amelie[/name_f]
[name_f]Anais[/name_f]
[name_f]Angele[/name_f] / [name_f]Angelle[/name_f]
[name_f]Bernadette[/name_f]
[name_f]Brigitte[/name_f]
[name_f]Carine[/name_f]
[name_f]Celine[/name_f]
[name_f]Corinne[/name_f]
[name_f]Delphine[/name_f]
[name_f]Eugenie[/name_f]
[name_u]Felice[/name_u]
[name_f]Gisele[/name_f]
[name_f]Helene[/name_f]
[name_f]Jolie[/name_f]
[name_f]Julienne[/name_f]
[name_f]Lisette[/name_f]
[name_f]Marcelle[/name_f]
[name_f]Nicolette[/name_f]
Regine
[name_f]Sabine[/name_f]
[name_u]Simone[/name_u]
[name_f]Veronique[/name_f]

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[name_u]Welcome[/name_u] to NB! [name_u]Love[/name_u] this genre of naming! [name_f]My[/name_f] husband aren’t historians but love the gamut of history and are currently TTC for our first!

Pronunciation-wise (USA [name_f]English[/name_f] speaker here, not so sure about British) I think the only one that might be a tad difficult is [name_f]Zephyrine[/name_f] but even that one seems doable to me. [name_f]Odette[/name_f] and [name_f]Elodie[/name_f] certainly ought not be a problem.

I will add [name_f]Georgette[/name_f], [name_f]Suzette[/name_f], [name_f]Allaire[/name_f], [name_f]Amelie[/name_f], [name_f]Juliette[/name_f], and [name_f]Adrienne[/name_f].

A few combos:

[name_u]Ciel[/name_u] [name_f]Georgette[/name_f]
[name_u]Ciel[/name_u] [name_f]Marguerite[/name_f]
[name_u]Ciel[/name_u] [name_f]Liliane[/name_f]

[name_f]Odette[/name_f] [name_u]Marie[/name_u]
[name_f]Odette[/name_f] [name_f]Zephyrine[/name_f]
[name_f]Odette[/name_f] [name_f]Adrienne[/name_f]

[name_f]Zephyrine[/name_f] [name_f]Allaire[/name_f]
[name_f]Zephyrine[/name_f] [name_u]Celeste[/name_u]
[name_f]Zephyrine[/name_f] [name_f]Nanette[/name_f]

[name_f]Elodie[/name_f] [name_f]Juliette[/name_f]
[name_f]Elodie[/name_f] [name_f]Estelle[/name_f]
[name_f]Elodie[/name_f] [name_f]Georgette[/name_f]

Others:
[name_u]Celeste[/name_u] [name_u]Marie[/name_u]
[name_f]Joelle[/name_f] [name_f]Suzette[/name_f]
[name_f]Estelle[/name_f] [name_f]Marinette[/name_f]
[name_f]Liliane[/name_f] [name_f]Zephyrine[/name_f]
[name_f]Coralie[/name_f] [name_u]Jeanne[/name_u]
[name_f]Jacqueline[/name_f] [name_u]Celeste[/name_u]

[name_f]Thalassa[/name_f] [name_f]Jolie[/name_f] (this one is mainly due to your interest in the Piracy)

Hopefully these help! :slight_smile:

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