Top 20 Names in France

[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) :

Boys :
[name]Math[/name]”o (mat-AY-oh)
[name]Enzo[/name] (EN-zo)
[name]Mathis[/name] ([name]MAT[/name]-ees [soft ‘s’])
[name]Noah[/name] (NO-a)
[name]Lucas[/name] (loo-KA)
[name]Nolan[/name] (NO-lan)
[name]Killian[/name] (KILL-ee-an)
Rapha”l ([name]RAFF[/name]-eye-ell or ra-fa-[name]EL[/name])
[name]Tom[/name] (TAWM)
[name]Nathan[/name] (NAY-tan)
[name]Evan[/name] (EV-an)
[name]Ethan[/name] (EE-than)
[name]Hugo[/name] (OO-go)
[name]Yanis[/name] ([name]YAN[/name]-ees)
[name]Ilan[/name] (EE-lan)
Cl”ment ([name]CLAY[/name]-mon)
[name]Ryan[/name] ([name]RYE[/name]-an)
L”o ([name]LAY[/name]-oh)
Th”o ([name]TAY[/name]-oh)
[name]Louis[/name] (loo-EE)

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).

Enjoy :smiley:

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! ^^

I like a lot of names on these lists!

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. :wink:

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

My favorites.

[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 think we had the same textbooks!

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.