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Names for your posh French baby (w/ pronunciations)
My favorite French baby name site (meilleursprenoms.com) has a list of the top 20 baby names appearing in birth announcements in Le Figaro (conservative, upper class newspaper) for each year since 1991. I compiled the lists into one long list of all the names that have appeared in that time. Though I know a lot of French people, some of these are truly surprising! Especially in English, names like Blanche, Capucine, Flore, Hortense, Philippine, Sixtine, and Tanguy are bizarre/hilarious. That said, I think all those names sound lovely in French. And there are names that I think sound god awful in French, but nice enough in English (Adélaïde & Hugues spring to mind)I've added pronunciation alongside the names. Some sounds are fairly difficult to transcribe in English. I'm not even going to try to indicate the nasal sound that N sometimes makes after vowels (i.e. in Bonjour, Hein, etc.). And "ah" = the a sound in cat.Adrien (ah-dree-AN)
Alexandre (ah-leck-SONDR)
Alexis (ah-leck-SEECE)
Amaury (ah-MO-ree)
Antoine (on-TWON)
Armand (ahr-MON)
Arnaud (ahr-NO)
Arthur (ahr-TEWR)
Augustin (o-guice-TAN)
Aurélien (o-REH-lyan)
Baptiste (bah-TEEST)
Benjamin (ban-zha-MAN)
Benoît (buh-NWA)
Charles (sharl)
Clément (kleh-MON)
Édouard (eh-DWAR)
Éloi (eh-LWA)
François (fron-SWA)
Gabriel (gah-bree-EL)
Gaspard (gah-SPAR)
Gauthier (go-TYEH)
Grégoire (greh-GWAR)
Guillaume (ghee-OHM)
Guy (GHEE)
Henri (on-REE)
Hugo (ew-GO)
Hugues (EWG)
Jean (ZHON)
Jean-Baptiste (ZHON bah-TEEST)
Jules (ZHEWL)
Léopold (leh-o-POHL)
Louis (loo-EE)
Martin (mar-TAN)
Matthieu (mah-TYUH)
Maxence (mack-SONCE)
Maxime (mack-SEEM)
Maximilien (mack-see-mee-LYAN)
Nicolas (nee-co-LAH)
Oscar (o-SCAR)
Paul (POHL)
Pierre (PYAIR)
Quentin (con-TAN)
Raphaël (rah-fah-EL)
Romain (ro-MAN)
Stanislas (stah-nee-SLASS)
Tanguy (ton-GHEE)
Théo (teh-O)
Théophile (teh-o-FEEL)
Thibault (tee-BO)
Thomas (to-MAH)
Timothée (tee-mo-TEH)
Tristan (tree-STON)
Victor (veek-TOR)Adèle (ah-DEL)
Adélaïde (ah-deh-lah-EED)
Agathe (ah-GAT)
Albane (ahl-BAHN)
Alexandra (ah-leck-son-DRAH)
Alice (ah-LEECE)
Aliénor (ah-lyeh-NOR)
Alix (ah-LEEKS)
Ambre (OMBR)
Amélie (ah-meh-LEE)
Angélique (on-zheh-LEEK)
Apolline (ah-po-LEEN)
Astrid (ah-STREED)
Aurélie (o-reh-LEE)
Blanche (BLONSH)
Camille (cah-MEE)
Capucine (cah-pew-SEEN)
Caroline (cah-ro-LEEN)
Charlotte (shahr-LOTE)
Chloé (clo-EH)
Claire (CLAIR)
Clara (clah-RAH)
Clémence (cleh-MONCE)
Colombe (coh-LOHMB)
Constance (cohn-STONCE)
Diane (DYAHN)
Domitille (do-mee-TEEL)
Éléonore (eh-leh-o-NOR)
Éloïse (eh-lo-EEZ)
Emma (eh-MAH)
Eugénie (uh-zheh-NEE)
Flore (FLOR)
Gabrielle (gah-bree-EL)
Hélène (eh-LEN)
Héloïse (eh-lo-EEZ)
Hermine (ehr-MEEN)
Hortense (or-TONCE)
Inès (ee-NESS)
Isaure (ee-ZOR)
Jeanne (ZHAHN)
Joséphine (zho-zeh-FEEN)
Julie (zhew-LEE)
Juliette (zhew-LYET)
Laetitia (leh-tee-SYAH)
Laure (LOR)
Lorraine (lo-REN)
Louise (loo-EEZ)
Lucie (lew-SEE)
Madeleine (mad-LEN)
Manon (mah-NOHN)
Margaux (mahr-GO)
Marguerite (mahr-guh-REET)
Marie (mah-REE)
Marine (mah-REEN)
Mathilde (mah-TEELD)
Obeline (ohb-LEEN)
Pauline (po-LEEN)
Philippine (fee-lee-PEEN)
Quitterie (keet-REE)
Sixtine - not sure on this prn...either sees-TEEN or seex-TEEN
Solène (so-LEN)
Sophie (so-FEE)
Valentin (vah-lon-TEEN)
Victoire (veek-TWAR)
Victoria (veek-to-RYAH)
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Names for your posh French baby (w/ pronunciations)  ·  molly  ·  8/2/2008, 10:07 PM
Very, very intresting!+  ·  Tassiegirl  ·  8/3/2008, 7:01 PM
Re: Names for your posh French baby (w/ pronunciations)  ·  citizenchauvelin  ·  8/3/2008, 3:37 PM
Re: Names for your posh French baby (w/ pronunciations)  ·  Jonquil  ·  8/3/2008, 12:51 AM