boy's name
Achille
ah-SHEEL
- Origin French
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 3
- Letters 7
- Popularity Rare
- Births on record 19,768
France
#76
2025 births
Achille is a boy's name of Greek origin, the French form of Achilles, the hero of the Iliad. It ranks seventy-sixth in France and is reviving after a peak in our records as long ago as 1924.
- Achille is a name of French origin.
- Peaked in France in 2025, when 790 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade in France.
- Today about 1 in 746 babies in France is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1900.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Achille over time
Births per decade in France, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 2,390 |
| 1910s | 1,755 |
| 1920s | 1,725 |
| 1930s | 960 |
| 1940s | 425 |
| 1950s | 360 |
| 1960s | 190 |
| 1970s | 100 |
| 1980s | 120 |
| 1990s | 575 |
| 2000s | 2,325 |
| 2010s | 4,135 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 4,135 |
What Achille means
Achille has no agreed meaning. The traditional derivation connects it to the Greek achos, grief or pain, which suits the Iliad's opening word, but the name is probably pre-Greek and its sense may not be recoverable.
Where Achille comes from
Achille is the French form of the Greek Achilleus. The ancient derivation from achos, grief, and laos, the people — grief of the people — is a folk etymology of the kind Greek writers enjoyed, and modern scholarship generally treats the name as pre-Greek and untranslatable. Achilles is the central figure of the Iliad, whose wrath is its subject and whose only vulnerable point gives English the tendon and the phrase. The name was used in France from the Renaissance onward and belongs to Marshal Achille Bazaine and to a long line of nineteenth-century bearers, which is why its French revival reads as vintage rather than mythological.
Achille in use
Achille ranks seventy-sixth in France with about 790 births in 2025, and our records place its peak as long ago as 1924, so this is a genuine revival rather than a new fashion. It has not exported: beyond 4,500 in England and Wales and beyond 8,300 in the United States. It belongs with Augustin, Auguste and Basile in the group of French names returning from the early twentieth century together.
How popular is Achille?
In 2025, Achille was given to 790 babies in France, ranking #76 that year. It is a rare choice.
Where Achille is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Achille
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Achille also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Achille over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Achille in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Achille
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Achille — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Achille
What does the name Achille mean?
There is no agreed meaning. The traditional link to achos, grief, is a folk etymology; the name is probably pre-Greek.
Is Achille the French form of Achilles?
Yes, and it is pronounced quite differently: ah-SHEEL.
Where does the Achilles tendon get its name?
From the hero's single vulnerable point, in the legend that his mother held him by the heel.
Is Achille reviving?
Yes. It ranks 76th in France, having peaked in our records as long ago as 1924.
How popular is the name Achille?
In 2025, Achille was given to 790 babies in France, ranking #76 that year. It is a rare choice.
Is Achille a girl's or a boy's name?
Achille is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Achille?
Achille has 3 syllables.
When was Achille most popular?
Achille peaked in 2025, when 790 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
Is Achille a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Achille currently ranks #76 in France. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.