Hmmm.... Name/Nickname?

[roxtarrr.livejournal.com]

I just saw this name on a commercial:

Mignonnette

It was one of those names that I saw but didn't register that it was a name for a few seconds.

Edited to change subject name.
There's possibility it was a nickname?

Comments

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

Are you sure it wasn't a nickname? Mignonette means "little cutie" in French.

[jeweledvixen.livejournal.com]

How do you pronounce it? I like it as a nickname.

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

I won't try to do a phonetic version, but Wiktionary has a pronunciation sound file: here (http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/mignonnette).

[roxtarrr.livejournal.com]

If it was a pet name for someone I would think that's cute. I like it in that context tbh.

I have no idea what the commercial was for but it was a woman sitting at a computer and for some reason they had her first and last name across the bottom of the screen so I don't think it was a nickname.

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

I don't actually speak French, I just recognized it from reading older English novels (Heyer, Christie, Sayers et al) where people tend to use French pet names all the time.

As a legal name I find it over the top, though not absolutely unbelievable as a name. I mean, Princess is in the top 1000 names in the US, which is enough to drive me to drink.

I can imagine a lot more names fitting into the classic judge/president/doctor template now than I could ten years ago, but these kinds of names are still too over the top. I can't imagine hearing "All rise for the honorable Princess Jones".

[silvermidnight.livejournal.com]

I saw that commercial, too! I have no idea what it was even about, all I saw was MIGNONETTE.

[phoenixglass.livejournal.com]

Well Mignon is French for cute (one of my basset hounds is Camille Mignon), and ette is a feminine name ending, so...probably a real name in France, or at least a diminutive of a real name. I don't think I'd use it, due to it being part of my dog's name, but it's nice enough.

[medamina.livejournal.com]

It makes me think of the Princess Diaries - I think it's part of Mia's name in that: Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Rinaldi (I am saddened by the way my brain just spat that out without question).

[eveyalecia.livejournal.com]

Ditto :)

[virtue.livejournal.com]

Haha, it's what I thought of too!

[lil-cherub.livejournal.com]

Its a cute name, but I wouldn't use it.

The first thing that came to mind was a food network chef saying "Today I'm going to show you how to prepare Beef Mignonnettes with a yummy mushroom cream sauce" or perhaps a salad dressing like a vinaigrette. Basically it sounded like food to me.

[designingdreams.livejournal.com]

It is a food- more specifically, a sauce. Champagne mignonette is a sauce served with oysters- champagne vinegar, minced shallots, pepper... Very traditional.

[lil-cherub.livejournal.com]

Guess I was on the right track! Its sounds delicious.

[hermione-vader.livejournal.com]

All I know is that it's French and it's Mia's middle name in The Princess Diaries (book series). I've never heard it anywhere else.

[waitingonsunday.livejournal.com]

I've seen that commercial, too! I'd only ever seen that name in one of my baby name books, so when I saw the ad, I was like, "Mignonnette! No way!" and my boyfriend was all, "Uh...what?"

[cybeleadam.livejournal.com]

There might be a few weirdos who name their daughters Mignonette in French speaking countries but if so, the poor girls must deal with mockery all the time (as would girls named Cutie in English speaking countries, I guess).

As a pet name, it's okay. However, these small Belgian chocolate bars are what I think of when I see the word: