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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

842 names, most popular first in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Cécile Cécile is a girl's name meaning blind, the French form of Cecilia — and its saint became patron of music through a mistranslation of a single line in her passion.
Girl French #5,705 in US
Matisse Peaked in 2005 · 4,086 births since 1991
Boy French #5,705 in US
Mathilde Mathilde is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "mighty in battle," and its bearer commissioned the Bayeux Tapestry by tradition.
Girl French #5,823 in US
Adelie Peaked in 2019 · 4,401 births since 1900
Girl French #5,825 in US
Lunette Peaked in 2025 · 344 births since 1902
Girl French #5,828 in US
Anik Peaked in 1947 · 1,153 births since 1928
Unisex French #5,869 in US
Janine Janine means God is gracious, a French elaboration of Jeanne, and it charts in three markets on very small numbers — 2683rd in Canada, 5880th in the United States, 7199th in France and 7480th in England and Wales.
Girl French #5,880 in US
Clarisse Peaked in 2001 · 32,273 births since 1900
Girl French #5,883 in US
Laurent Laurent is a boy's name meaning from Laurentum, the French form of Lawrence.
Boy French #6,082 in US
Chantal Chantal is a girl's name from an Occitan word for a stone or boulder, taken from a French place name — the singing reading everyone gives it comes from the French chanter and is wrong.
Girl French #6,227 in US
Bastien Bastien means venerable, and it is the Greek translation of Augustus — sebastos rendered the emperor's title in the eastern half of the empire, and cities renamed Sebaste carry the same honor in Greek dress.
Boy French #6,244 in US
Héloïse Héloïse is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "healthy" and "wide," carried by the twelfth-century scholar whose letters to Abelard are among the most famous correspondence in Europe.
Girl French #6,369 in US
Ariane Ariane is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "most holy," borne by the woman whose thread got Theseus out of the labyrinth.
Girl French #6,375 in US
Philippe Philippe is a boy's name, the French form of Philip, from Greek elements meaning lover of horses.
Boy French #6,393 in US
Fanny Fanny means Frenchwoman, shortened from Frances — and it fell out of English-speaking use for reasons of slang while remaining an ordinary name in France, which is why France still ranks it 1059th.
Girl French #6,442 in US
Marcelle Marcelle is a girl's name meaning of Mars, the French feminine of Marcel.
Girl French #6,626 in US
Didier Didier is a boy's name from a Latin name meaning longed for — and the Latin word behind it originally meant to await what the stars bring, which is where the English desire comes from.
Boy French #6,687 in US
Alexie Peaked in 2003 · 5,430 births since 1936
Girl French #6,754 in US
Rosette Peaked in 1934 · 6,689 births since 1900
Girl French #6,775 in US
Benoît Benoît means blessed, and it is the French form of Benedict — the circumflex marks a lost s, so the older spelling was Benoist and the Latin behind it was benedictus, well-spoken-of.
Boy French #6,783 in US
Jean-Paul Jean-Paul joins God is gracious to a name meaning small — Paul was a Roman cognomen for a short man, so the compound sets a statement about God beside a physical nickname.
Boy French #6,807 in US
Soline Soline is a girl's name of Latin origin, a French form of Solange, and its saint was a shepherdess beheaded for refusing a nobleman.
Girl French #6,816 in US
Blanche Blanche means white, and its revival is entirely French — 252nd in France on 220 births against 6874th in the United States.
Girl French #6,874 in US
Georges Georges is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "farmer," the French form of George, and the s is part of the name rather than a plural.
Boy French #6,909 in US
Jonael Peaked in 2015 · 957 births since 2004
Boy French #6,978 in US
Fabien Fabien means bean grower, from a Roman family name — the Fabii were among Rome's oldest houses, and several great clans took their names from crops rather than from virtues or conquests.
Boy French #7,010 in US
Lancelot Peaked in 2003 · 2,386 births since 1968
Boy French #7,152 in US
Mickael Mickael is a French respelling of Michael, meaning who is like God — a rhetorical question whose expected answer is nobody.
Boy French #7,207 in US
Aimé Aimé means beloved, and it is a past participle rather than an adjective — literally the one who has been loved, which is a completed act rather than a description of someone lovable.
Boy French #7,339 in US
Matthieu Matthieu means gift of God, and it is the second spelling of this name in our gap band — France ranks Matthieu 430th and Mathieu 416th, so the two have split the sound almost exactly evenly.
Boy French #7,442 in US
Lilou Lilou is a French invention of the 1990s, and its rise is one of the sharpest we hold for France — from almost nothing to 3,850 births at its 2009 peak, then down to 260 today.
Girl French #7,461 in US
Eline Eline is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "torch" or "bright," a Dutch and Scandinavian form of Helen.
Girl French #7,559 in US
Noham Noham is a boy's name with no established etymology, a modern French coinage built from the sound of Noah and Noam.
Boy French #7,857 in US
Éléonore Éléonore is a girl's name whose origin is genuinely disputed, most often explained as "the other Aenor" from a medieval Aquitaine tradition.
Girl French #7,899 in US
Gustave Gustave is a boy's name of Old Norse origin whose meaning is disputed, and the man who built the Eiffel Tower carried it.
Boy French #8,016 in US
Lorianne Peaked in 1963 · 2,369 births since 1954
Girl French #8,061 in US
Marceau Marceau is a boy's name of French origin meaning "little warrior," a surname form of Marcel that has become a first name.
Boy French #8,074 in US
Maxence Maxence is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "greatest," the French form of the Roman Maxentius.
Boy French #8,087 in US
Jean-Pierre Jean-Pierre is a boy's name joining John and Peter, and it is the most-used hyphenated compound on this site — a French naming pattern treated as one indivisible name, with no real equivalent in English.
Boy French #8,099 in US
Lyna Lyna is a girl's name, a French respelling of Lina, which has both an Arabic sense of a young palm tree and a European use as a short form.
Girl French #8,120 in US
Aurélien Aurélien means golden, from a Roman family name, and the emperor who carried it built the walls that still ring Rome — Aurelian's wall went up in the 270s and much of it is standing.
Boy French #8,137 in US
Somaya Peaked in 2012 · 1,489 births since 1990
Girl French #8,169 in US
Lemmy Peaked in 2016 · 542 births since 1985
Boy French #8,181 in US
Del Peaked in 1958 · 5,211 births since 1909
Unisex French #8,249 in US
Fabrice Fabrice means craftsman, from the Latin for a worker in hard materials — the same root that gives us fabric, fabricate and forge.
Boy French #8,289 in US
Tracey Tracey is a Norman place name, not an Irish one — it comes from Tracy in Normandy, and the warrior reading widely given for it has no basis in the French original at all.
Girl French #8,308 in US
Lynna Peaked in 1963 · 2,504 births since 1918
Girl French #8,333 in US
Achille Achille is a boy's name of Greek origin, the French form of Achilles, the hero of the Iliad.
Boy French #8,348 in US

Related Origins