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I adore Françoise and if I were French or in a French speaking area I would use it in a heartbeat. I like it with floral names. I just think it works well.

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Françoise Lili / Lily
Françoise Violet
Françoise Adrienne
Françoise Louise
Françoise Sophie
Françoise Juliet
Françoise Claudine

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A nice alternative would be Francine.

This message was edited 1/22/2015, 8:59 AM

It would work just fine in Louisiana, but elsewhere in the U.S., it's too French to use,

Realistically, I think most of the time you'd either get people butchering the pronunciation because they don't know French, or you would get people who know a little French and pronounce it like the male counterpart, François. The name being usable or not completely depends on how often you want to correct people on the pronunciation. If you don't mind constantly correcting people, then use it! If you don't want to deal with that, then I would advise against using it.

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I absolutely adore French names. Here are some of my favorites!

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Fleur, Delphine, Valentine, Laure, Sabine, Lucienne, Agnès, Alix, Anaïs, Anouk, Antoinette, Apolline, Aurélie, Aurore, Axelle, Capucine, Clémentine, Cloé, Coralie, Cornélie, Élodie, Esmée, Éloïse, Émilienne, Eugénie, Eulalie, Inès, Faustine, Félicienne, Juliette, Léa, Léonie, Léontine, Lilou, Margot, Milou, Mathilde, Noémie, Océane, Ophélie, Rosalie, Séraphine, Sévérine, Sophie, Victoire, Violette, Vivienne, Zénaïde, Zéphyrine

My husband has a niece named Francoise (sorry, can't make my keyboard do the cidilla).It's a good name, and could work in the U.S., once you stop people saying France-oyse.

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It's quite common where I live.Some are nick-named France(French pronounciation).

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I like Chantal. And Sandrine.

I don't like it but I think it could be usable with a very recognisable middle name

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I really like Anouk

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It's not my favorite of mine, but it's nice. For Americans, it's unusual but not completely unfamiliar, and I think it's usable, especially with the right surname. We (Americans) would routinely drop the "ç" and replace it with a plain old "c," which is a shame. I would assume the family of a Françoise had strong ties to France, and I imagine many people would do the same.

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There are certainly other French names, from Anne to Sophie, that have been better assimilated. Familiarity can make any name seem "more usable," but I don't think Françoise needs to be thrown over in favor of one of them.

I like the name as well, but I also speak French (though I am out of practice).

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However, I think this name is stereotypically French and should only be used by those who have a French background, are French, or it is well known that they speak French. Otherwise, it might come off as pretentious on the part of the parents.

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To be realistic, most Americans would shorten this name to Frank, unless you were adamantly against it. Well.. at least most NYers would (since I can only speak for my local culture).

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I say it is totally usable if you fit the categories above, which you do.
AS A MIDDLE NAME, I find it far more usable for the average American - and would reccommend it as it would seem to be a gutsy choice that gives a name a lot of personality.

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Françoise Arnaud
Françoise Henry
Françoise Otto
Françoise Ambrose
Françoise Daniel
Alban Françoise
Prosper Françoise
Gilbert Françoise
Cyril Françoise
Casimir Françoise
Simon Françoise
Edgar Françoise
Morgan Françoise
Vincent Françoise