[Advance warning: I’m a complete dork about French names, so you pressed the right button to set me in motion. Let’s hope some of the other ladies can be a smidge more objective than I can.]
[name]Beatrice[/name]”lovely, but due to become trendy any day now
[name]Anais[/name]”this is a great name; exotic and attention-getting
[name]Delphine[/name]”gorgeous; feels very regal. With all the Danielles, [name]Nicoles[/name], etc., in the US, I can”t figure out why [name]Delphine[/name] hasn”t caught on here
[name]Eugenie[/name]”[name]LOVE[/name] IT. A bona fide regal name ([name]Princess[/name] [name]Eugenie[/name] in [name]England[/name], there was also a [name]Eugenie[/name] in the Bonaparte family).
[name]Charlotte[/name]”[name]Charlotte[/name] is fine, but it”s not a name I get excited about. You have so many bolder choices on your list, I”d want to steer you towards them instead.
[name]Celeste[/name]”[name]Love[/name] this one too. It”s one of those perfect names that everyone can pronounce, but it still stands out in a crowd.
[name]Victoria[/name]”very 80s
[name]Juliette[/name]”pretty, though I”d reserve it for a mn.
[name]Ophelia[/name]”I know an [name]Ophelia[/name] who was miserable her entire teenage life because she was teased mercilessly. (”Hey, [name]Ophelia[/name], come feel THIS!” “Yeah, I’d feel ya.”)
[name]Annabelle[/name]”pretty but super trendy; if you want to honor a family member, I”d keep it as a middle
[name]Celia[/name]”very pretty; I”m also fond of [name]Cecile[/name].
[name]Leonie[/name]”great choice, but will people have trouble pronouncing it?
[name]Adelaide[/name]”maybe [name]Adeline[/name] instead?
[name]Florence[/name]”when pronounced in the French fashion, it makes me light-headed; when given the American pronunciation, I”d recommend [name]Flora[/name]
Boys :
[name]August[/name]”trendier by the minute
[name]Augustin[/name]”a much better alternative to [name]August[/name]
[name]Seamus[/name]”a super-fun Irish name, but just like [name]Lola[/name] has that [name]Charlotte[/name]/harlot hangup, I always process this name as ”[name]Shame[/name] us.”
[name]Damian[/name]”I have a student named [name]Damian[/name] who”s single-handedly destroying my sanity. I can”t get past him to look at the name objectively.
[name]Noah[/name]”too popular
[name]Arnaud[/name]”[name]LOVE[/name] it! One of my favorite fun-guy names.
[name]Julius[/name]”I like [name]Julius[/name]. What about [name]Julien[/name] or [name]Jules[/name] as alternatives?
[name]William[/name]”again, I”d reserve it as a middle to honor family; I just can”t be excited about [name]William[/name]
[name]Felix[/name]”trending up
[name]Edward[/name]”bound to start moving up the ranks thanks to all the Twilight insanity; still, the love of my life is named [name]Edouard[/name], so I will always be partial to this name.
[name]Matthias[/name]”I like it, thought like [name]Leonie[/name], I wonder if it”s going to present pronunciation problems
[name]Victor[/name]”this one still feels old-man-ish for me, hasn”t quite revived. I suppose it”s all the ”Days of our Lives” I watched in college. [name]Victor[/name] was bad news.
Here are some other French names I”d suggest. Some of these lose all their lustre when pronounced in the American fashion, and some would be better as middle names, but I wanted to bring them up anyway:
[name]Ad[/name]”le
[name]Anne[/name]-[name]Sophie[/name]
[name]Colette[/name]
[name]Eloise[/name]
[name]Evelyne[/name]
Genevi”ve
In”s
[name]Laurence[/name]
No”mie
[name]Pascale[/name]
[name]Ambroise[/name]
[name]Anselm[/name]
Aur”lien
[name]Baptiste[/name]
[name]Bertrand[/name]
Cl”ment
Fr”d”ric
[name]Honor[/name]”
[name]Ludovic[/name]
[name]Maxime[/name]
[name]Roland[/name]
[name]Xavier[/name]
And a couple of links to a favorite site of mine for French names. The first is a list of royal names, and the second is ”classics,” both of which should be right up your ally.
http://meilleursprenoms.com/site/LesCla … Royaux.htm
http://meilleursprenoms.com/site/LesCla … siques.htm