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Re: Avril
Alizée is a ratchet alcoholic beverage -- I don't see the appeal there AT ALL. Gemma's cute.

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Alizée is also the name of a French pop singer of the same vintage as Avril Lavigne. I'm imagining that French folks have heard of her (and of Alizé Cornet, a French tennis player I just discovered by googling) about as much as we have heard of Lavigne ... it also has a word meaning in French that I assume makes it namier there. I personally know a woman who is French - born and raised in France, moved here after her daughter was born - who named her daughter Alizée in 2006. She is not "ratchet" or anything like that, either; she's very much a professional. I've barely heard of Alizé the beverage, and I'm only vaguely aware of the cultural associations it carries. I guess it matters that people think of that, if you live in the US and want to use the name Alizée - but if that matters, then surely Avril Lavigne's image might taint Avril as much. Because unfortunately that's what I personally think of first when I see the name Avril - her eye makeup. I don't know if ratchet describes it, but wretched might. =( These kinds of associations are dismaying, because I think both these names should just be nifty.

This message was edited 12/29/2014, 3:31 PM

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As a resident of France, I can assure you that the name is in fact derived from a vocabulary word and it's not after the beverage. The word alizé means "trade wind". The singer's parents probably added an E at the end to make it sound more like a feminine name. (The accented é is usually masculine; i.e. Aimé, André, René)I can also share some info about Alizée. She's one of our most successful singers here in France. She does have a sexy image, but overall she's well-liked by the public and for a long time she hardly ever talked about her personal life. Personally, I'm a fan of her myself.
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