Interesting French names

[solitudete.livejournal.com]

My partner and I are both teachers in France. I went through our student lists and noted some that stood out. If you want to know the pronunciation, let me know!



(f)
Océane
Léa
Ophélie
Axelle
Alizée
Typhaine
Cannelle
Athénaïs
Lola
Maëlle
Anaëlle
Cyrièle
Philippine*

(m)
Aymeric
Ludovic
Yamm
Bertrand
Hubert
Corentin**

(no idea)
Loris
Axee
Aubin
Emerance


*Every student I know named Philippine is a really intelligent, great student. Seems to be a good indicator of success!
**Every time I end up with a Corentin, Sébastien or Valentin, the kid is a little shit. I don't know what it is about these names, but I've yet to meet one that isn't a monster.

Comments

[kaizopp.livejournal.com]

Cannelle? It's what I called one of my moms goats...
Athénaïs is interesting.
Did you perhaps misspell Ludovic, or is Ludouic the actual name?
And Yamm is strange. Like his parents decided they hated the letter n or something.

Cyrièle, Anaëlle, Ophélie and the like I would never use, though I don't dislike them, but they're too widespread.

Bertrand and Hubert and Philippine makes it seem like old people names are coming back in fashion... Not my cup of tea.

[solitudete.livejournal.com]

You're right, I mispelled Ludovic. Gonna edit it, thanks!

IA about Canelle, it struck me as a pet name more than a person's name...

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

Is there a nickname for Philippine? My daughter is named Philippa and her usual nn of Pippa, I am told, might sound comical to French speakers due to the similarity to pipi.

[sparklymoon.livejournal.com]

My best friend moved to France when we were in grade 4, and all her friends had such hilarious names to me, like Tiphane (I don't know why it was so funny at the time!)

Canelle is a bit weird, but I guess spice names are acceptable in some cases. Alizée is pretty, especially the meaning, but it's a terrible brand of wine here (and an alright singer/actress as well)

[hermione-vader.livejournal.com]

I love all of the girls' names and dislike all of the boys, except maybe Corentin (although I'm sorry he's terrible).

[solitudete.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard any nicknames, but from my experience, French people don't use a lot of nicknames anyway.. they always insist on saying the full name, even if it's super long. I wouldn't immediately think of "pipi" when I hear Pippa.. it would be like saying "I think of pipi when I hear Pierre." So I think you're safe there. :P

[solitudete.livejournal.com]

I had a really lovely, sweet student named Alizée so I have good associations with that name. :)

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

Sounds like Corentin, Sébastien and Valentin are the equivalent of Chase, Mitchell, and Travis.

[laminy.livejournal.com]

I've never seen it before, but I think Athénaïs is quite pretty.

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

I got so much shit (no pun intended) for my name when I was living in France.