WDYT of Jean?

I think [name]Jean[/name] is more of a girl’s name, but it is the name of a person I really want to honour. What do you think of [name]Jean[/name] on a boy? Thanks!

With the French pronunciation, I love [name]Jean[/name] for a boy. Or perhaps you would consider a double barrel, like [name]Jean[/name]-[name]Benoit[/name]? I think that would be very handsome. Or you could use a common English nn for [name]John[/name] (which [name]Jean[/name] is the French form of), like [name]Jack[/name] or [name]Johnny[/name] (or even J/JJ), if you’re worried just [name]Jean[/name] isn’t usable enough. I do think [name]Jean[/name] as a MN is very usable, though–perhaps something like [name]August[/name] [name]Jean[/name] or [name]Theodore[/name] [name]Jean[/name]? [name]Felix[/name] [name]Jean[/name]?

I would love to meet a [name]Jean[/name]-[name]Benoit[/name] or a [name]Jean[/name] nn [name]Jack[/name], though. :slight_smile:

Good luck!

Very French. I would use [name]Jean[/name] in the middle name spot.

Are we pronouncing it the French way? If so, I love it. :slight_smile: And as ashthedreamer said, it would be great as a double-barrel with another name.

I wouldn’t know how to pronounce it if I saw it in [name]America[/name]. I’m not French and took a total of one quarter of French in school, so even though I know how it’s supposed to be pronounced, I would not want to say it out loud because I would be afraid of not saying it quite right or just sounding silly. My friends already make fun of me when I say french words with a French accent when they should be anglicized. I would end up just saying it with a soft “J” and I would pronounce the “n.” So it would be this weird hybrid of anglicization and French-pronunciation. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not great either.

Also, your son would probably be constantly asked if he was French. I don’t know what the answer would be, but if it’s “no,” then that could get kind of annoying.

In the US I find [name]Jean[/name] to be more female & [name]Eugene[/name] to be the male option. [name]Gene[/name] in the fn spot might be better on an American boy.

I like the idea of using it double-barreled. The nerd in me votes for [name]Jean[/name]-[name]Luc[/name].

For what it’s worth, there were over 200 boys named [name]Jean[/name] in 2011 in the US, and another 200 or so with double-barreled [name]Jean[/name] names. I think it’s recognizable enough that people would figure it out, especially if you used with another name, such as [name]Jean[/name]-[name]Luc[/name] or [name]Jean[/name]-[name]Marc[/name].

Hmm, I’m half-American and half-French but seeing as this is an English speaking site I automatically read that in English. Which way would you pronounce it? I agree that if you do it the French way it makes sense to make it double-barrell. It would feel more masculine and to me would directly indicate that it’s French.

If it’s said like [name]Gene[/name], then I would prefer that spelling but I don’t know if you’d still feel that was honoring the person.