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French Names

French names divide into two histories. Some are Latin worn smooth by a thousand years of French speech; others are Germanic names brought by the Franks and kept in French mouths — which is why a great many of the most French-sounding names on the list are not Latin at all.

Languages behind these names Latin Hebrew Germanic Greek uncertain French

Rankings for

77 names, uncommon — 100 to 499 a year, in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Pierre Pierre is a boy's name, the French form of Peter, from the Greek for rock.
Boy French 159 in 2025
Vernon Vernon is a Norman place name meaning a place of alders, from a Gaulish word — so a French town gave England a surname that America turned into a first name, three languages deep.
Boy French 133 in 2025
Jules Jules is a boy's name, the French form of the Roman family name Julius, traditionally explained as "youthful."
Boy French 219 in 2025
Desiree Desiree means desired, and it began as a Puritan virtue name rather than a French one — Desiderius was a late Roman Christian name for a longed-for child, and French inherited it before English did.
Girl French 151 in 2025
Esmae Esmae is a girl's name of Old French origin meaning "esteemed" or "beloved."
Girl French 149 in 2025
Annette Annette is a girl's name meaning grace, a French diminutive of Anne.
Girl French 149 in 2025
Dominique Dominique is a French name meaning of the Lord, given to children born on a Sunday.
Unisex French 172 in 2025
Nathalie Nathalie is a girl's name meaning birthday of the Lord, given to children born at Christmas.
Girl French 145 in 2025
Jermaine Jermaine means brother, and it is French rather than Germanic — germain is the ordinary word for a full brother, and it has nothing to do with Germany despite appearances.
Boy French 118 in 2025
Constance Constance is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "steadfastness," one of the abstract virtue names the early Church favored.
Girl French 142 in 2025
Daryl Daryl completes a set of three — Darrell, Darryl and Daryl are one Norman place name split across three spellings, and all three appear in our gap band, carrying about 328,000 births between them.
Boy French 113 in 2025
Paulette Paulette is a girl's name meaning small or humble, a French diminutive of Paul — so it is a diminutive of a name that already means little.
Girl French 138 in 2025
Angeline Angeline means messenger, and the Greek word behind it was an ordinary job title — angelos named someone carrying news, and every wing and choir attached to it since came later.
Girl French 134 in 2025
Aimee Aimee means beloved, and it is grammatically passive — the French past participle of aimer, to love, so the name says she who is loved rather than she who loves.
Girl French 133 in 2025
Yvette Yvette is a girl's name from a Germanic word for the yew tree, by way of Breton.
Girl French 128 in 2025
Nadine Nadine looks entirely French and is Russian underneath — it is Nadezhda, the ordinary Russian word for hope, borrowed into French and given a French ending.
Girl French 128 in 2025
Guy Guy is a boy's name from a Germanic word probably meaning wood or wide, and one of very few names to have become an ordinary English noun — through Guy Fawkes, whose effigies gave the word its modern sense.
Boy French 103 in 2025
Adrienne Adrienne means from Hadria, an Italian town that also named the Adriatic Sea — so the name and the sea are both called after a small settlement whose own name is uncertain.
Girl French 123 in 2025
Denise Denise is a girl's name, the French feminine of Denis, and like it traces to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine.
Girl French 123 in 2025
Zélie Zélie is a girl's name of French origin, a short form of Azélie, and belongs to Saint Zélie Martin, the mother of Thérèse of Lisieux, canonised in 2015.
Girl French 121 in 2025
Denis Denis is a boy's name from the Greek god of wine, and Ireland places it 240th — its strongest market by a wide margin.
Boy French 101 in 2025
Valentine Valentine is a unisex name of Latin origin meaning "strong" or "healthy."
Unisex French 159 in 2025
Marianne Marianne is the personification of the French Republic, and her bust stands in every town hall in France — so the name carries a civic weight in one market that it has nowhere else.
Girl French 110 in 2025
Josette Josette is the only faded name in this group — it peaked in France at 6,650 births in 1946 and now ranks nowhere in France at all, surviving only in the United States at 1837th.
Girl French 109 in 2025
Vivien Peaked in 1986 · 18,383 births since 1900
Unisex French 108 in 2025
Francine Francine means Frenchwoman, and it is a French diminutive of a name that already means French — so it reads as a small French person, which is circular in a way few names manage.
Girl French 108 in 2025
Lou Lou is a girl's name in France, a short form of Louise and Louis meaning "famous warrior."
Girl French 146 in 2025
Marin Marin is a unisex name of Latin origin meaning "of the sea," from the Roman Marinus.
Unisex French 113 in 2025
Marion Marion is a French diminutive of Mary that has crossed sexes twice over — it is 81 percent female in our records, yet its most famous bearer was John Wayne, born Marion Robert Morrison.
Unisex French 147 in 2025

Related Origins