Top French Baby Names

Following the birth and naming of the new Princess Charlotte I thought we could have a look at the most popular French baby names and how the have changed over the years.!

How many typical French names can you list off the top of your head? I’m sure there are some Jean-Pauls, Michels, Brigittes, and, of course, some Pierres in your lists, but I can assure that these names aren’t all that common anymore.

Have you ever met a French Kévin? Jessica? I remember the first time I studied in France, my school sent a driver to pick me and another girl up from la gare (the train station). Son prénom (his name)? Franck! I remember thinking, “c’est pas très français, ça…” (that’s not very French…). Well, he wouldn’t be the last French Franck I’d ever meet.

Baby names are quite often inspired by pop culture. Think of the Twilight craze – how many baby girls named Bella popped up? Check out the huge spike of baby Bellas in 2009-2010.

The same can be said for Kévin. The name was barely known in France in the 1980s, but when Danse avec les loups (Dances with Wolves), starring Kevin Costner, was released in 1990, a Frenchified version of the name with an aigu accent over the E found a huge spike in popularity. In 1991, 14,087 boys in France were named Kévin. The name stayed in the top 20 Boys names for 9 years.

Image courtesy of Drôle de Mums

Below I’ve listed the Top 10 Baby Names from 1990-2010 in 5-year increments. Can you think of why certain names below suddenly became so trendy?

1990: garçon - fille

1 Kévin Élodie

2 Thomas Laura

3 Julien Julie

4 Nicolas Marine

5 Alexandre Marie

6 Jérémy Marion

7 Anthony Pauline

8 Maxime Aurélie

9 Romain Camille

10 Guillaume Mélanie

1995: garçon - fille

1 Nicolas Manon

2 Alexandre Marie

3 Thomas Laura

4 Kévin Camille

5 Maxime Marine

6 Quentin Pauline

7 Julien Léa

8 Dylan Marion

9 Antoine Anaïs

10 Florian Julie

2000: garçon - fille

1 Thomas Léa

2 Lucas Manon

3 Théo Camille

4 Hugo Chloé

5 Maxime Emma

6 Nicolas Marie

7 Quentin Océane

8 Alexandre Sarah

9 Antoine Laura

10 Clément Mathlide

2005: garçon - fille

1 Enzo Emma

2 Lucas Léa

3 Mathis Clara

4 Thomas Manon

5 Théo Chloé

6 Hugo Camille

7 Nathan Inès

8 Tom Sarah

9 Clément Jade

10 Maxime Lucie

2010: garçon - fille

1 Nathan Emma

2 Lucas Léa

3 Enzo Chloé

4 Léo Manon

5 Louis Inès

6 Hugo Lola

7 Gabriel Jade

8 Ethan Camille

9 Mathis Sarah

10 Jules Louise

Selon (according to) the book l’Officiel des Prénoms , considered to be “the Bible” when it comes to baby names, these names will probably be the most popular in 2015.

Voilà le palmarès (here’s the prize list):

2015: garçon - fille

1 Nathan Emma

2 Lucas Lola

3 Léo Chloé

4 Gabriel Inès

5 Timéo Léa

6 Enzo Manon

7 Louis Jade

8 Raphaël Louise

9 Arthur Léna

10 Hugo Lina