Unusual French names from the distant past (boys & girls) from a genealogy site!

General Name Discussion
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So I was browsing through a French genealogy site, searching for info on distant relatives, and I was so taken by some of the names, that I compiled this list. Nearly all are from the 1700’s and 1800’s. [name]Just[/name] sharing because I thought other name lovers might be interested. :slight_smile:

~ GIRL NAMES ~

Arthémise

Euphroisine

Isoline

Célinie

[name]Maxence[/name]

Tranquille

Anasthasie

[name]Zo[/name]ée

Esthère

Scholastique

Zélie

[name]Olimpe[/name]

Opportune

Olyphie

[name]Appoline[/name]

Adophine

Césarine

Ruffine

Soulange

[name]Victorine[/name]

[name]Zulma[/name] (Actual name combo: [name]Zulma[/name] [name]Delphine[/name])

Angadrème (born 1760)

[name]Clarisse[/name]

Ismérie

Sébastienne

Aspasie

~ BOY NAMES ~

Axelroude

[name]El[/name]éonord

Fulgence

Amédée

Athanase

Séraphin

[name]Octave[/name]

[name]Ag[/name]énor

[name]Omer[/name]

Hyppolite

[name]Val[/name]éry

Sincère

Thélesphore

Anthème

[name]Calixte[/name] (His name combo was particularly cool: [name]Calixte[/name] Désiré )

[name]Hyacinthe[/name]

Vast (Typo? Or just super unique?)

Aristide

Luglien

Désir

Clotaire

Cédrique

2

Scholastique and Fulgence are kinda epic. I really like [name]Calixte[/name], Isoline and [name]Zelie[/name]. [name]Victorine[/name] was [name]Manet[/name]'s model.

3

Celinie is quite beautiful. Ismerie and tranquille also stand out for me. [name]Quill[/name] would be a sweet nickname. What a brillient find.

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These are great! Thank you so much for posting them.

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Thanks for the post! I saw the name [name]Octave[/name] at work on some documents recently.

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Beautiful names- it’s always nice to see old names from other countries. I probably can’t pronounce half of them, but they all look gorgeous My favorites would have to be Esthère, Scholastique, Zélie and Isoline for the girls and Axelroude, Séraphin and [name]Calixto[/name] for the boys.

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Angadreme - [name]Dream[/name] angel? [name]Lovely[/name].

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The one that stood out for me was Cédrique What a neat way to spell [name]Cedric[/name], which I don’t particularly like!

I like Isoline and Tranquille for girls.

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Here’s some names from my french line- Some unusual, some not

[name]Agnes[/name] Dolare (f)
[name]Amable[/name] (m)
Archange (f)
[name]Armand[/name] (m)
Cécile (f)
Cleophas (m)
Dalvané (m)
Élisabeth (f)
Étienne (m)
Eusèbe (f)
Gérard (m)
Godfroid (m)
Hormidas (m)
[name]Hyacinthe[/name] (m)
[name]Jean[/name] [name]Bernard[/name] (m)
[name]Joachim[/name] (m)
Josaphat (m)
[name]Laurent[/name] [name]Joseph[/name] (m)
[name]Leonard[/name] (m)
[name]Luc[/name]é (f)
[name]Marie[/name] [name]Anna[/name] (f)
Mathildé (f)
[name]Moise[/name] (m)
[name]Philippe[/name] (m)
Selendy (f)
[name]Stanislas[/name] (m)
Thérèse (f)
[name]Toussaint[/name] (m)
Uldège (m)
[name]Victoire[/name] (f)

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I love Isoline, Esthère, and Zélie! :slight_smile:

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So glad others enjoyed this list too! Thanks for the comments. :slight_smile:

Ozdust - Awesome list! Thank you so much for posting it. Many of those names are completely new to me. Archange (archangel) is terrific. That’s definitely going on to my ~[name]Favorite[/name] Names I’ll Never Have The Guts To Actually Use~ list. Cleophas and Seledy are standouts too. So yeah… thanks again for sharing!

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Angadrème was an 8th c saint and abbess. She is the patron of the city of [name]Beauvais[/name]. It’s extremely rare now-- no baby in [name]France[/name] has been named Angadrème since 1900. The name comes from “angil,” the Angles, and “drugan,” “to fight against.”

13

It is strange to see [name]Maxence[/name] on a girl since it’s a very masculine name. I’m a huge fan of [name]Calixte[/name], both [name]Maxence[/name] and [name]Calixte[/name] are on my boys list. You have some amazing family names!

Edit to say: Aristide is the name I intend to give any sons I might have, it’s so cool to see on your list!

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Those are definitely some interesting finds! My favorites: Esthère, [name]Appoline[/name], [name]Calixte[/name], and Cédrique.

15

Cool list though I have no idea how to pronounce French names. They look like they’d be pretty.

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Zélie ([name]Marie[/name]-Azélie) Guérin [name]Martin[/name] was the mother of [name]Saint[/name] Thérèse of Lisieux.

I really like Aspasie and Sébastienne, Amédée, Hyppolite and Aristide.

17

You have great name suggestions! Aristide is the name I intend to use if I ever have a son so it’s nice to se someone else is a fan.
[name]Edit[/name]: it’s late and I misread the post thinking you suggested these but now I see they were on the original list and I missed them. Anyways, I have seen some of your other comments and like your name suggestions :slight_smile:

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Haha, it’s ok and thank you very much. I can only say the same about you (loving the majority of the names in your signature).

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  • argenta_genova I’m glad you liked them :slight_smile: