French modern names for girls. French surnames

Beautiful French names are original and have interesting story origin. The first names and surnames in France appeared dozens of centuries ago. Since then they have often been modified, both under the influence historical events, and thanks to the spirit of new fashion trends. Female names are endowed with a special charm and charm, which is why they are common not only in France, but also in other countries.

Traditions of France

Unlike Russian people, the French often have not one, but two or three names and only one surname. This custom appeared thanks to the influence of the Roman catholic church. It is believed that if you name a child two names, then throughout the person’s life he will be protected by not one, but two saints.

If parents named their child a triple name, this does not mean that people around them will pronounce it in full in order to address the person. Among the three names, the child has one official name, which is used as the main one. When a baby grows up, he leaves for himself only one name, which he likes most. In this case, he will not need to re-register documents.

The French names currently in use first appeared several hundred years ago BC. In Gaul, Greek words were often borrowed And Celtic names, during the invasion of the ancient Romans - Roman, in the Middle Ages - German. At the end of the 18th century, according to a new law, the French named their children after Catholic saints.

French female names ancient Gallic era:

In ancient times, Greek names were common:

• Anne (Ann) - graceful, God's grace
• Eve (Eve) - full of life

Male names of Greek origin:

The most popular French female names of the late 20th century:

Frankish variants

Most Frankish names have two roots: the first root is from the name of the father, and the second is from the name of the mother.

Rare male names Frankish origin:

Female names of Frankish origin:

• Arogasta - mistress of eagles
• Gibetruda - friend of the gift
• Albofleda - possessing the beauty of fairies
• Chrodehilda - glorious warrior
• Avdovera - happy warrior
• Avrovefa - arrow woman, swift
• Bertefleda - shining with beauty

What are women and men called now?

Below is a list of the most used and beautiful French female names in the current century:

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select a country and click on it - a page with lists of popular names will open

France, 2014–2015

SELECT YEAR 2014–2015 2009–2011

State in Western Europe. The capital is Paris. It borders Spain, Andorra, Monaco, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium. Population (at the end of 2014) – about 66 million people (all of France) / 64.2 million people (European France). At the beginning of 2011, there were 5.5 million immigrants in France. France also includes four overseas regions (Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Reunion). Religious composition(2004 survey): Catholics - 64.3%, Protestants - 1.9%, Jews - 0.6%, Muslims - 4.3%, no religion - 27%. However, these data are approximate. According to other surveys, the distribution by denomination is different.

The most well-known site with data on name statistics in France is MeilleursPrenoms.com, which positions itself as the very first French site about names. Indeed, it has been around since 2000. In addition to data on the origin of names, there are lists of popular baby names by year, going back to 1900. For 2014, the twenty most common names. Data for 2013 are not provided. For the remaining years - the 200 most popular names.

The creator of this site is Stephanie Rapoport. She is the author of books on names published regularly based on data National Institute statistics and economic research France (l"INSEE). Therefore, this site can be completely trusted. I will give the twenty most common names of 2014. Probably, the names on this site are arranged in descending order of frequency.

Top 20 names. France, 2014

Position number	Male names	Female names
1	Nathan	Emma
2	Lucas	Lola
3	Leo	Chloé
4	Gabriel	Inès
5	Timeo	Lea
6	Enzo	Manon
7	Louis	Jade
8	Raphael	Louise
9	Arthur	Lena
10	Hugo	Lina
11	Jules	Zoé
12	Ethan	Lilou
13	Adam	Camille
14	Nolan	Sarah
15	Tom	Eva
16	Noah	Alice
17	Théo	Maëlys
18	Sacha	Louna
19	Mael	Romane
20	Mathis	Juliette

Another interesting resource with name data is opendata.paris.fr, maintained by the Paris City Hall. This site contains official data on the personal names that newborns receive in the French capital. They are grouped by year, starting from 2004. The most current data now is for 2015. Names are given whose frequency is higher than 4. In 2015, there were 646 male and 659 female such names. For each name, the frequency is given in absolute numbers. These materials, although limited to one city, are of undoubted interest for researchers of names.

Top 20 male names. Paris, 2015

Position number	Name	Frequency
1	Adam Gabriel	355 355
2	Raphael	320
3	Paul	260
4	Louis	256
5	Arthur	245
6	Alexandre	226
7	Victor	208
8	Jules	205
9	Mohamed	185
10	Lucas	177
11	Joseph	170
12	Antoine	167
13	Gaspard	165
14	Maxime	152
15	Augustin	146
16	Oscar	133
17	Ethan	131
18	Leo	127
19	Leon	123
20	Martin	122

Top 20 female names. Paris, 2015

Position number	Name	Frequency
1	Louise	293
2	Alice	244
3	Chloé	206
4	Emma	178
5	Inès	175
6	Sarah	174
7	Jeanne	173
8	Anna	160
9	Adele	155
10	Juliette Camille	149 149
11	Lea	143
12	Lina	142
13	Eva	140
14	Sofia	137
15	Charlotte Victoria Rose	134 134 134
16	Mila	132
17	Josephine	127
18	Manon	126
19	Zoé	118
20	Nina	115

In France there are many completely unique cultural traditions, which may well include the formation of names and the order of naming children in the family. This especially applies to male names, which will be discussed in this article. Modern parents, of course, are deviating from family routines that have been mandatory for several centuries in a row. Many male French names are increasingly being replaced by biblical ones or those with English roots, which do not sound at all French.

However, French names for boys are often used in other countries. But not every parent knows what they mean and whether they are really so popular in France itself. To understand how popular the male name that you suddenly want to give to your baby is, it’s worth learning more about it.

What are they?

Like women's, men's French names have a unique melody and softness of sound. Perhaps, in no other country in the world will you hear such a charming pronunciation of the sound “r”. It is he who carries that special French charm. Despite the fact that the French are considered incredibly passionate, their names often sound soothing: Henri, Louis, Charles. Names in French are pronounced softly, especially if sounds such as “r”, “t”, “k” and others are at the end of the word or follow one another. For example, the traditional French “Godfried” most often sounds like “Godefroy”. And there are many such examples.

Another feature of the use of the name for the French of past centuries is its versatility. This means that both boys and girls were often called the same. An example of this is the names Corentin, Michel and some others.

Origin of French names

Most male French names are derived from biblical ones. Most often, they were modified in accordance with the ideas of ordinary people about the beauty of sound. An example of this is the names Pierre (Peter), Benjamin (Benjamin) and Michel (Michael). As can be seen from the above examples, the sounds in them are always softer than in original version. Often French names in Russian, for example, acquire a harsher and rougher sound, losing their unique charm.

Also in France, borrowing proper names from neighboring cultures has been practiced since ancient times. During the wars of conquest with the participation of this state, new unusual names, which were the names given to newborn boys.

What were sons called in France: family traditions

The French traditions when naming children are very interesting, and they differ little from the rules adopted by other nations. As a rule, male French names, the list and meaning of which will be given below, were given according to the following principle:

• the first-born was given the name of his paternal grandfather, and the names of his maternal grandfather and the saint under whose protection the boy was born were added;
• the second son in the family was given the name of his paternal great-grandfather, and the name of his mother's grandmother and the name of the saint were added to it.

These traditions were mandatory until 1966, when parents were legally allowed to choose last name(saint) for your child. And only in 1993 in France it was officially allowed to choose a child’s first name from among those that parents liked.

Perhaps the reader will have a question about how several names could form a single whole. It's simple - in France, almost all male names were compound. What were they, which of them were used in everyday life, and what did the writing of such names look like? Let's figure this out right now.

Compound names in France

The tradition of giving boys double or triple names developed in France with the advent of Catholicism. Initially, this was done so that the child would be protected by several patron saints at once. Double names became most widespread in past centuries, but even now parents often give their babies traditional male French names consisting of several. Examples of this include Jean-Paul, Jean-Claude and Pierre-Marie.

By the way, many modern celebrities(film actors, musicians and artists) have double and triple names. Among them are Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jean-Paul Gaultier and many others.

Writing and pronunciation of compound names

Double names that are written with a hyphen, in Everyday life pronounced in full, that is, as written in the documents. It is a completely different matter when a boy is called Antoine Michel Louis or Leonce Maurice Noel. In this case, in everyday life they use one of the names and simply call the children - Antoine (Titi) or Maurice, for example.

Often double or triple names, which are written without a hyphen, allow their owners to change them without paperwork at the registration authorities. For example, a man named Jean Battisto Robert, who was known as Jean from childhood, may tomorrow ask to be called Robert and will henceforth introduce himself only as such.

Meaning of French names

The lion's share of male names in France have Latin or Greek roots and came to the country through the adoption of Christianity. In fact, there are very few native French names. These include only Laurens and Laurentin (who arrived/originally came from Laurentum), Lope (like a wolf) and Remy (sitting on oars, a rower).

Many modern French names, as stated at the very beginning of this article, are derived from foreign ones. At the same time, the similarity of their sound is quite clearly visible. Other than that, they have the same meaning. So that readers can verify this, we present several values:

• Constantin (French) - Constantine (Roman) - constant, constancy, stable.
• Christophe (French) - Cristiano (Port.) - Christian (English) - presented by Christ.
• Leon (French) - Leonardo (Italian) - Leo (Russian) - like a lion.
• Markel (French) - Marcus (Italian) - Martin (German) - warlike.
• Nicolas (French) - Nikolaus (German) - Nikolai (Russian) - victory of humanity.

This list can be continued indefinitely. However, we will not do this, but will try to decide which male names the French themselves consider the most beautiful today.

The most beautiful French names

According to research, the French name Thierry, Christophe, Pierre and Jean among the most beautiful male names. In their opinion, such beautiful French names for boys as Michel (Michel), Alain (Alain) and Philippe (Philip) have no less charm.

In other countries, the following names with French roots are considered beautiful: Sebastian, Jacques, Claude, Vincent, Francois and Dominique. As a rule, the high popularity of names is ensured by film actors or other famous personalities. It is this indicator that is the main point in classifying them as the most beautiful or simply euphonious names.

What male names are popular in France?

Currently, the process of forming new proper names in France has not been completed. IN last years It became fashionable to name children by abbreviation and some modification of foreign names. They are also used unchanged. Which ones are the most popular? French names that have been in the top 10 in the last 5 years are most often of British (Kevin, Axel, Jed and Tom), Italian (Enzo and Theo) origin. Very often, young parents call their sons Lucas, Arthur and Hugo. But the most popular name for 4-5 years now has been Nathan.

Researchers also note that modern French people rarely give their babies double and triple names, and also practically do not observe traditions in terms of the order of naming babies in the family. Moreover, some men in France legally change the name chosen for them by their parents to a more euphonious and modern one.

Be that as it may, many parents in France still prefer modern traditional names and continue to name their sons after grandparents and other relatives.

In each language, first and last names have their own etymology, their own origin. And French is no exception. In the French language, first and last names were formed historically, originating from some locality or from some clan.

Today we will talk about French names and surnames. To us, as well as to you, dear lovers French, the origin of names and surnames in France is interesting. Let's quickly begin our journey into the world of French names and surnames!

Dictionary of French names and surnames, Larousse publishing house

Friends, before telling you beautiful French male and female names, before making a list or generator of French male and female names, pay attention to some details:

• France is very fond of double names (prénom), such as Jean- Marc, Jean-Pierre, Paul-Henri, Anne- Marie, Marie-Louise . Usually these are two names of the same gender, which are written with a hyphen. But there are cases when one name is female and the other is male. For a boy, the male name comes first, then the female name - Jean-Marie , for a girl - vice versa - Anne-Vincent . Do you remember the name of the philosopher Voltaire? — François Marie Arouet Voltaire . It is worth considering that if a person double name, then this is exactly what it should be called: Jean-Pierre – this is exactly Jean-Pierre, and not just Jean or Pierre.
• Many female names are formed by adding a suffix to the male name -e ,—ette , or -ine . For example: Jean – Jeanne ; Henry – Henriette; Maurice Mauricine; Honoré Honorine. Sometimes these suffixes affect pronunciation Armand (Arman) - Armande (Armand), and sometimes not Daniel (Daniel)- Danielle (Daniel).
• Diminutive male names are formed by adding the suffix - et, -ot , and women's –ette, -otte .

These were the distinctive features of French names, and now:

A brief history of how surnames appeared in France

In the 16th century, the king ordered all families to acquire surnames ( le nom de famille – family name). The surname could be the name of the head of the family: Martin, Bernard, Thomas, Robert, Richard, Michel, Henri, etc. Or some of his distinctive feature or characteristic: Legrand - big, Lepetit - small, Leroux - red; or place of residence: Dubois - from the forest or one who lives near the forest, Dupont - one who lives next to the bridge or in the town of Le Pont; the main occupation of a person or tool: Fournier - stove maker, Mercier - seller, Beaudelaires - carpenter's cleaver, Hachette - carpenter's adze or mason's pick, Bonnet - hat, cap, cap. Plant names were also used: Castan - from chataîgne - chestnut, Lavigne - vigne - grapes.

The surnames of the nobles came from their estates plus the prefix de : le comte d'Artois - Count d'Artois, le duc d'Orléans - Duke of Orleans.

French first and last name generator

We can say that such a generator is a Russian transcription of French names and surnames. For example, Diane - Diana, Angélique - Angelique, Poline - Polina, Jean - Jean (Ivan), Godefroi - Godefroy, Duroy - Duroy.

Although, for example, it is permissible to say both Daniel and Danielle - Danielle. You can say both Celine and Selina – Céline.

French names and surnames

Now let's take a closer look at female and male French names and surnames and their Russian pronunciation.

Male names:

• Jean – Jean (Ivan)
• Michel - Michel (Mikhail)
• Philippe - Philip
• Alain
• Patrick - Patrick
• Pierre - Pierre (Peter)
• Nicolas - Nikola (Nikolai)
• Christophe - Christophe
• Christian
• Daniel – Daniel (Daniel)
• Bernard - Bernard
• Eric - Eric
• Frédéric - Frederic
• Laurent
• Olivier - Olivier

Female names:

• Marie - Marie (Maria)
• Nathalie - Natalie (Natalya)
• Isabelle - Isabelle
• Françoise - Francoise
• Christine
• Monique - Monica
• Nicole - Nicole
• Sophie - Sophie (Sofia)
• Anne – An (Anna)
• Celine - Celine
• Brigitte - Brigitte
• Catherine – Catherine (Ekaterina)

The most common French surnames.

French male names are among the most beautiful and harmonious-sounding. Alain Delon, Bertrand Blier, Mathilde Seigner... Their pronunciation reflects all the charm of France, its sophistication and attractiveness. In this article we will look at how male French names were formed and what preceded it.

From the history

The formation of names in France had a huge impact constant wars and invasions by foreign conquerors. In the era of the ancient Gauls, Greek, Jewish and Celtic Abraham, Isaac, and so on were popular). After the invasion of the Romans and Germans into French lands, the Roman ones (Arthur, Julius) and (Charles, Wilhelm) became widespread. In the 18th century, a law was passed requiring names to be taken from the Catholic calendar of saints. But it did not last long, and to this day the French are free to name their children as they wish. Based on this, we can confidently conclude that male French names are a reflection rich history France.

How does name formation occur?

According to French traditions, a name consists of three parts, and the person is free to choose the main part himself. French male names are assigned according to the following scheme: the first part is the name of the paternal grandfather, the second part is the name of the maternal grandfather, the third part is the name of the saint who patronizes the born. If another boy appears in the family, then he is already assigned the names of his great-grandfathers on the paternal and maternal lines. French male names, the list of which is presented below, are now actively used by people of all nationalities.

Beautiful French male names are popular all over the world. Often, even in our country, you can find a person with a French name.