[name]Tamara[/name]'s post gave me this idea … French names hold a certain charm, and can be ‘classy’ ways to get an unusual name, despite possible pronounciation issues, so here are the top 20 names for girls and boys in [name]France[/name] in 2007 (I’ve tried to give pronunciations, but I found it quite difficult to convey a French accent in phonetics, so they are not 100% accurate) :
Where names end in Ns, the ‘n’ is so soft it is almost not pronounced.
And girls :
[name]Clara[/name] (KLAH-rah) - a lot of people on French forums seem to dislike this one … but that may be because they meet so many little babies called it!
[name]Emma[/name] - it’s taking over the world!
Louane (loo-[name]ANN[/name])
Ma”lys ([name]MAY[/name]-lees) - my favourite!
Chlo” (clo-AY)
[name]Sarah[/name] (SER-ah)
L”a ([name]LAY[/name]-a)
[name]Jade[/name] (JAYD - the j is soft, sort of like a hard shhh)
L”na ([name]LAY[/name]-na)
Louna (LOO-na)
In”s (ee-NES)
[name]Lilou[/name] ([name]LEE[/name]-loo)
[name]Lucie[/name] (luy-SEE)
[name]Manon[/name] (MAH-non - another case of the barely there ‘n’)
[name]Lola[/name] (LO-lah)
[name]Romane[/name] ([name]RO[/name]-mann)
[name]Lina[/name] ([name]LEE[/name]-na)
[name]Lisa[/name] ([name]LEE[/name]-sa)
[name]Marie[/name] (ma-[name]REE[/name])
[name]Lily[/name] ([name]LIL[/name]-ee).
I like [name]Math[/name]”o, [name]Enzo[/name], [name]Mathis[/name], Rapha”l, [name]Yanis[/name] and [name]Ilan[/name] for boys and [name]Clara[/name], Ma”lys, [name]Lilou[/name], [name]Lucie[/name], [name]Manon[/name] and [name]Lola[/name] for girls… [name]Enzo[/name] and [name]Manon[/name] are my absolute favourites! ^^
Girls: [name]Emma[/name] (I know it’s popular but I can’t help but [name]LOVE[/name] it), L”a, [name]Marie[/name], L”na
Boys: [name]Noah[/name], though I like [name]Noa[/name] for a girl too!, [name]Tom[/name]
It’s nice to see this list! In my French schoolbooks from high school there were only kind of typical French names like [name]Jean[/name], [name]Jean[/name]-[name]Claude[/name], [name]Laurent[/name], [name]Sylvie[/name], [name]Therese[/name], etc. So it’s nice to finally know what names are popular in [name]France[/name] at THIS moment and not at the moment the schoolbooks were made.
The name Ma”lys reminds me of the name of the halfsister of the woman who’s married to one of my cousins: Ma”llis. It’s pronounced mah-ay-liz
[name]Matheo[/name]
[name]Raphael[/name]
[name]Clara[/name]
[name]Maelys[/name]- Wow I really like this one!
[name]Chloe[/name]
[name]Lea[/name]
[name]Lilou[/name] - so cute but I don’t know if I’d use it for a first name. I have a dog named [name]Lola[/name] so maybe as name for a second dog. [name]Lola[/name] and [name]Lilou[/name]!
[name]Lucie[/name]
[name]Lola[/name]
[name]Marie[/name]
[name]Lily[/name]
I start a French class tomorrow and I think I’ll pick Ma”lys as my name. It’s so unusual looking, with such a pretty sound. So thanks for this list, it came at just the right time for me! It’ll either be that, [name]Lilou[/name], [name]Coralie[/name], [name]Delphine[/name], or [name]Ophelie[/name].
When I lived in [name]France[/name] in 1976 (yes, probably before most of you were born), as an au pair studying French at the Sorbonne and trying to work out one end of a baby from another, I found the names were often hyphenated - [name]Jean[/name]-luc, [name]Jean[/name]-[name]Marc[/name], Francois-[name]Xavier[/name], etc. There were a lot of [name]Nicoles[/name] and Micheles, and the baby I was looking after (I use the term “looking after” loosely) was called [name]Aurelie[/name]. There also seemed to be a heck of a lot of [name]Thierry[/name] s about.
I like the new list much better!
I love [name]Manon[/name] which is also a Welsh name for a girl.