Start swiping

Your favorites Sign in or create an account

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

842 names, most popular first in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Harmonie Peaked in 2015 · 5,588 births since 1974
Girl French #2,474 in US
Charlette Peaked in 1971 · 6,785 births since 1915
Girl French #2,478 in US
Marguerite Marguerite is a girl's name meaning pearl, and it is also the French word for the daisy — so the name carries a flower and a gemstone at once.
Girl French #2,497 in US
Alphonse Alphonse means ready for battle, and it is Visigothic rather than French — the name came into Spain with the Germanic kingdom that ruled it before the Arabs, and reached French from there.
Boy French #2,534 in US
Olivier Olivier is a boy's name usually taken as olive tree, though the character who made it famous — Roland's companion in the Song of Roland — may carry a Norse name meaning elf army instead.
Boy French #2,539 in US
Marius Marius is a boy's name of Latin origin, a Roman family name usually connected to Mars, the god of war.
Boy French #2,546 in US
Yanis Yanis is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is gracious," a French spelling of the Greek Yannis and so a form of John.
Boy French #2,565 in US
Diane Diane is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "divine" or "heavenly," the French form of the Roman goddess Diana.
Girl French #2,637 in US
Henrietta Henrietta named a American state — Maryland was chartered for Henrietta Maria, queen to Charles I, so a French princess's middle name sits on the map of the United States.
Girl French #2,682 in US
Emy Emy is a girl's name, a French respelling of Emy or Emmy that functions as a short form of Emma, Emilie and Amelie.
Girl French #2,749 in US
Lya Lya is a girl's name, a French respelling of Léa and so of the Hebrew Leah.
Girl French #2,849 in US
Alain Alain is a boy's name, the French form of Alan, and its meaning is genuinely unknown — rock, handsome and deer have all been proposed from a Breton source that has never been identified.
Boy French #2,862 in US
Brigitte Brigitte is a girl's name from an Irish goddess whose name means the exalted one, and she is the clearest case in Europe of a pagan deity becoming a Christian saint largely intact.
Girl French #2,889 in US
Amarie Peaked in 2005 · 3,003 births since 1995
Unisex French #2,891 in US
Anne-Marie Anne-Marie joins grace to a name nobody can translate — Anne means favor, and Mary's meaning has never been established, so only half of this compound has a settled sense at all.
Girl French #2,949 in US
Frédéric Frédéric is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning peaceful ruler, the French form of Frederick.
Boy French #2,973 in US
Brice Brice means speckled, and the fourth-century saint who carried it was a difficult man — Brictius succeeded Martin of Tours after years of insulting him publicly, and was driven out before being restored.
Boy French #2,982 in US
Coralie Coralie names a skeleton — coral is the calcium structure built by colonies of tiny animals, so the name describes an object made by living things rather than a plant or a stone.
Girl French #2,986 in US
Pauline Pauline is a girl's name from the Latin for small or humble, the feminine of Paul.
Girl French #2,994 in US
Antoinette Antoinette means little Antoine, and the meaning usually given for the parent name — flower — is a false etymology.
Girl French #2,998 in US
Destinee Peaked in 1999 · 17,448 births since 1973
Girl French #3,029 in US
Gisèle Gisèle means a pledge, and the pledge in question was a person — the Frankish word meant a hostage given as security for a treaty, which is how the name entered the royal families of medieval Europe.
Girl French #3,080 in US
Leyna Leyna is a girl's name with no single source, read as a form of Lena, of the Arabic Lina, or as a modern coinage.
Girl French #3,194 in US
Charly Charly is a unisex name in France, a respelling of Charlie meaning "free man," from the Germanic. It ranks sixtieth in France and is recorded in our data as unisex, which is rare at this rank in any market.
Unisex French #3,253 in US
Renae Peaked in 1970 · 15,570 births since 1925
Girl French #3,256 in US
Lowell Lowell means little wolf, and it is Norman French rather than English — louvel is a diminutive of loup, so the name is affectionate about an animal most cultures feared.
Boy French #3,262 in US
Noémie Noémie is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "pleasantness," borne by a woman in the Book of Ruth who asks to be called the opposite.
Girl French #3,307 in US
Esmée Esmée is a girl's name of Old French origin meaning "esteemed" or "beloved," from the past participle of esmer.
Girl French #3,308 in US
Mathis Mathis is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "gift of God," a French form of Matthias.
Boy French #3,318 in US
Vianney Peaked in 1989 · 7,613 births since 1942
Unisex French #3,340 in US
Monique Monique is a girl's name, the French form of Monica, whose meaning is genuinely unknown despite the confident answers usually given for it.
Girl French #3,356 in US
Rainier Peaked in 2023 · 985 births since 1956
Boy French #3,365 in US
Gaston Gaston is a boy's name most likely meaning "from Gascony," and a Disney villain has made it difficult in English while France is reviving it.
Boy French #3,397 in US
Art Peaked in 1961 · 6,760 births since 1880
Boy French #3,399 in US
Aline Aline means noble, worn down from Adelaide through Adeline — three names that are the same word at three stages of erosion, and France ranks it 292nd on 185 births.
Girl French #3,460 in US
Merle Merle means blackbird, and it is one of the genuinely mixed names on this site — 33 percent of the births in our records are female, and our data marks it reviving.
Unisex French #3,481 in US
Luc Luc means from Lucania, an Italian region — so the name is a place rather than the light it is usually said to mean, and the light reading comes from confusion with a separate Latin word.
Boy French #3,497 in US
Darcie Darcie is a girl's name of Norman French origin meaning "from Arcy."
Girl French #3,563 in US
Elie Elie means my God is the Lord, and it is a declaration aimed at a rival — the prophet's whole career is a contest against Baal, and his name states the winning side before he opens his mouth.
Boy French #3,566 in US
Beauregard Peaked in 2017 · 630 births since 1893
Boy French #3,582 in US
Hélène Hélène is a girl's name, the French form of Helen, whose Greek meaning was never established.
Girl French #3,585 in US
Pascal Pascal is a boy's name meaning of Easter, given to children born at Passover or Easter — and the word behind it is Hebrew, not Latin.
Boy French #3,586 in US
Evelyne Evelyne is a French form of Evelyn, and the name is a chain of diminutives with a lost root — Aveline, from Avila, from a Germanic element nobody has securely identified.
Girl French #3,608 in US
Geoffrey Geoffrey means peace, and only half of it is settled — the second element is agreed, while the first is disputed between three unrelated Germanic words, so the name is half-translatable.
Boy French #3,611 in US
Delphine Delphine means of Delphi, and the dolphin reading is not a coincidence — the Greeks connected the oracle site and the animal through a word for a womb, so both descend from the same root.
Girl French #3,623 in US
Sacha Sacha is a boy's name in France, the French spelling of the Russian diminutive of Alexander, meaning "defender of mankind."
Boy French #3,659 in US
Camélia Camélia is a girl's name taken from the camellia, a flower Linnaeus named after a Jesuit missionary botanist called Kamel — so the name is a surname twice removed.
Girl French #3,721 in US
Justine Justine means just or fair, from the Latin word behind justice — and it ranks 407th in France against 3738th in the United States, which is one of the widest market splits anywhere in this group.
Girl French #3,738 in US

Related Origins