What are your thoughts on the girls name [name_f]Neige?
Well, I suppose you don’t pronounce it like the [name_m]French[/name_m] word but rather like “nayg”; personally, I’m not a huge fan of taking random words from other languages, making them names in English (or other languages) and mispronouncing them, which is bound to happen if you don’t know the language.
Names, okay, but random words I feel would be rather strange.
I live in a [name_m]French[/name_m] speaking part of [name_f]Canada[/name_f] so although I am not fluent in [name_m]French[/name_m] I do know how to pronounce [name_f]Neige[/name_f]. I also know a few other children named [name_f]Neige[/name_f] and I have always loved their name:)
I’ve never heard of [name_f]Neige[/name_f] being used as a name, but I don’t know many native [name_m]French[/name_m] speakers. It could work, especially if you live somewhere where it’s familiar, but I prefer the sound of [name_f]Snow[/name_f] or [name_f]Frostine[/name_f].
Were they [name_m]French[/name_m] (speaking) children?
I still think it’s a name that could easily turn “ugly” in pronunciation, especially as the soft G isn’t a familiar sound for non [name_m]French[/name_m]-speakers.
I live in [name_f]Canada[/name_f] as well and I speak pretty fluent [name_m]French[/name_m] (I attend and have always attended [name_m]French[/name_m] Immersion schools) and I think it sounds absolutely lovely, but I stop right there because I’m sure there will be rather unattractive pronounciation mistakes. I wouldn’t use it unless you will be in a [name_m]French[/name_m]-speaking environment, and even then I’m not sure if the name would be accepted well or if people would give you weird looks.
I am a fan of [name_f]Neige[/name_f], but even more of Nadège. As a [name_m]French[/name_m] Speaker its really hard to imagine that people don’t say a soft ‘g’. It just 'is ’ to me-but when I hear fellow students & colleagues at Uni say ‘garage’ like ‘garadge’ then I realize I am a minority. [name_m]Even[/name_m] one Professor who speaks [name_m]French[/name_m] fluently uses hard ‘g’ when reverting to English.
But I indulge myself in thinking that many people recognize a ‘foreign’ name and then do their best to copy the pronunciation, so getting a soft g pronunciation. In a more [name_m]French[/name_m] orientated community I would hope [name_f]Neige[/name_f] would be okay.
We started a thread on another site and people named [name_f]Anna[/name_f], [name_f]Elsa[/name_f] etc told their stories of annoying mispronunciation so I would go with [name_f]Neige[/name_f] - at least you are expecting there might be issues.
Best wishes.