How many typical French names can you list off the top of your head? I’m sure there are some Jean-Pauls, Michels, Brigittes, and, of course, some Pierres in your lists, but I can assure that these names aren’t all that common anymore.
Have you ever met a French Kévin? Jessica? I remember the first time I studied in France, my school sent a driver to pick me and another girl up from la gare (the train station). Le prénom du conducteur? (the driver’s name)? Franck! I remember thinking, “c’est pas très français, ça…” (that’s not very French…). Well, he wouldn’t be the last French Franck I’d ever meet.
Baby names are quite often inspired by pop culture. Think of the Twilight craze – how many baby girls named Bella popped up? There was a huge spike of baby Bellas in 2009-2010.
The same can be said for Kévin. The name was barely known in France in the 1980s, but when Danse avec les loups (Dances with Wolves), starring Kevin Costner, was released in 1990, a Frenchified version of the name with an aigu accent over the E found a huge spike in popularity. In 1991, 14,087 boys in France were named Kévin. The name stayed in the top 20 Boys names for 9 years.
Below I’ve listed the Top 10 Baby Names from 1990-2010 in 5-year increments. Can you think of why certain names below suddenly became so trendy?
1990: |
garçon |
fille |
1 |
Kévin |
Élodie |
2 |
Thomas |
Laura |
3 |
Julien |
Julie |
4 |
Nicolas |
Marine |
5 |
Alexandre |
Marie |
6 |
Jérémy |
Marion |
7 |
Anthony |
Pauline |
8 |
Maxime |
Aurélie |
9 |
Romain |
Camille |
10 |
Guillaume |
Mélanie |
1995: |
garçon |
fille |
1 |
Nicolas |
Manon |
2 |
Alexandre |
Marie |
3 |
Thomas |
Laura |
4 |
Kévin |
Camille |
5 |
Maxime |
Marine |
6 |
Quentin |
Pauline |
7 |
Julien |
Léa |
8 |
Dylan |
Marion |
9 |
Antoine |
Anaïs |
10 |
Florian |
Julie |
2000: |
garçon |
fille |
1 |
Thomas |
Léa |
2 |
Lucas |
Manon |
3 |
Théo |
Camille |
4 |
Hugo |
Chloé |
5 |
Maxime |
Emma |
6 |
Nicolas |
Marie |
7 |
Quentin |
Océane |
8 |
Alexandre |
Sarah |
9 |
Antoine |
Laura |
10 |
Clément |
Mathlide |
2005: |
garçon |
fille |
1 |
Enzo |
Emma |
2 |
Lucas |
Léa |
3 |
Mathis |
Clara |
4 |
Thomas |
Manon |
5 |
Théo |
Chloé |
6 |
Hugo |
Camille |
7 |
Nathan |
Inès |
8 |
Tom |
Sarah |
9 |
Clément |
Jade |
10 |
Maxime |
Lucie |
2010: |
garçon |
fille |
1 |
Nathan |
Emma |
2 |
Lucas |
Léa |
3 |
Enzo |
Chloé |
4 |
Léo |
Manon |
5 |
Louis |
Inès |
6 |
Hugo |
Lola |
7 |
Gabriel |
Jade |
8 |
Ethan |
Camille |
9 |
Mathis |
Sarah |
10 |
Jules |
Louise |
Selon (according to) the book l’Officiel des Prénoms , considered to be “the Bible” when it comes to baby names, these names will probably be the most popular in 2015.
Voilà le palmarès (here’s the prize list):
2015: |
garçon |
fille |
1 |
Nathan |
Emma |
2 |
Lucas |
Lola |
3 |
Léo |
Chloé |
4 |
Gabriel |
Inès |
5 |
Timéo |
Léa |
6 |
Enzo |
Manon |
7 |
Louis |
Jade |
8 |
Raphaël |
Louise |
9 |
Arthur |
Léna |
10 |
Hugo |
Lina |
So, what are some of your favorite French names?
Comments:
Dennis Donohue:
“Manon” has stayed strong. It is an attractive name and one of my favorites. The truth is, any French girl’s name is attractive if pronouned correctly. Even “Hortense,” which doesn’t have a particularly attractive sound in English, has a much better sound in French.
I very much enjoy your blog, Josh, which I just found a few months ago. Please keep up the good work!
Bon Chance
Emma:
When I was teaching in France I came across quite a few of these names more than once. My favourite though is Eleanore or it’s alternate Eleonore.
Edward:
My French wife is called Jacqueline, at one time this was a very popular name, and still is popular in England, but surprisingly in France now it is very rare indeed – see here http://dataaddict.fr/prenoms/#jacqueline – In 2009 only 6 newborns were named Jacqueline in the whole of France! In 1999, 2000 2003 and 2004 apparently there were none at all!
Willaume:
Here in this wonderful country of mine, (uncommon, different and unique), name butchering is quite common, so one can probably easily imagine the many, many incorrect varieties I’ve heard over the years when your everyday American citizen tries to pronounce my first name. Although ‘Willaume’, (at least it is my understanding is typically a French surname), I am oftentimes amused when trying to instruct the masses on the correct pronunciation of my first name, only to watch (and listen) to them comically struggle and butcher my name. Ahhhh, gotta’ love those Americans! 😉