I didn't get that impression at all. I copied and googled what you searched for and most people liked Oceane or thought it was boring. Many mentioned the nature image and the nice sound. There were quite a few who said it was boring and overused or who said 'it's nice but too common'. But there were hardly any who thought it sounded trashy, tacky or trendy. Hardly anyone who had any strong negative opinions. Also I didn't find a thread in which it was compared to Kevin or Brenda.
Here is exactly what I found:
I googled 'Que pensez vous du prénom Océane' and yes, there are some people who think it's horrible but also many who like it. I didn't find a single thread in which everyone thought it was horrible, dated or tacky. Most people who didn't like it just thought it was boring. You would get the same results if you googled Hannah or Alexis, probably even Elizabeth or Margaret (in the US).
I also googled this:
'Quels sont les prénoms les plus beaufs que vous avez entendus'
I guess you found this thread:
http://fr.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091005034336AAslS9o&cp=2
I didn't find a single thread in which people compared Oceane to Kevin and Dylan. I found only ONE thread in which someone listed Oceane at all, which is the one I linked above. In the others Kevin, Stacy, Brandon, Kimberly etc are listed multiple times but never Oceane. I would say it's a coincidence. Theodora, Bernadette and Theo were also listed in the thread above and I think they are generally thought of as nice names in France. The reason why Kevin, Brenda and Dylan are listed multiple times is that American/English names are usually perceived as trashy in non-English speaking countries in Europe. My dad is German and it's the same there. German comedians are making fun of names like Kevin and Cheyenne on a regular basis.
I go to France at least once a year for several months and never got the impression that people thought of it as trendy or uneducated or anything. My aunt's friend was considering it for her daughter last summer when I was there and she received many positive comments on how beautiful it is. She also considered Lea which got many negative comments (boring, generic etc). I mean Lea was number 1 for some time as far as I know but Oceane was almost as common (number 7, I believe), so it surprised me a little. She named her Victoire, by the way :P
I'm not saying it isn't boring, it is. But I still don't think it is generally perceived as trashy, tacky, uneducated or super trendy. Just as nature-y and common, kind of like Brooke.
Ahh it was fun googling all that, I feel really sorry for the name Dylan now :P It's actually one of my faves. I googled at google.fr, by the way, just in case you used a different site and got different results.
This message was edited 6/3/2012, 5:49 PM