French girl names! UNIQUE! HELP!!

[leneke]

I'm French.

I would avoid using Mignonette, Nanette & Lunette. That sounds french but that's not used in France. NEVER. You will never meet someone having these names. Though, Mauricette is usable but very dated!
Aurelie, Elodie (most of them are born between 1980 & 1992) & Sylvie (born between 1955 and 1965/70) are really dated.
Suzette is used only as a nn.
Colette, Odette, Bernadette, Yvette, Jacqueline are not old enough to be usable in France. Though, I lovvvve Odette & Jacqueline.
Francine is french but used everywhere in Europe: Germany, Switzeland ...
Avaëlle doesn't really exist. Evaëlle more.
Marielle is really dated too.

Iris (Eereess), Camille, Nine (Neen, in fn or nn), Nina, Lise, Lison, Elise, Léopoldine, Séraphine, Léontine, Célestine, Céleste, Ninon, Manon, Fanchon, Isaure, Colombe, Charlotte, Marilou, Alice, Marie, Victoire, Victorine, Honorine, Amélie, Sophie, Typhaine (Ti-feyn), Cassandre, Marthe, Marcelle, Esmée, Octavie, Florène, Clotilde, Constance, Cleophée (Cley-ophey) , Doriane, Daphné, Béryl, Bérénice, Domitille, Othilie (Oteelee), Bertille, Emeraude (Aym-rode), Brunehilde, Amandine, Marion, Charline, Maurane, Agathe ...

You mostly can add -ine at the end of all names. Marcelline, Martine, Améline, Alexine ... But imo, that's not a pretty trend!

Edit: I also thought of Carine or Karine, Paule (dated!), Pauline, Thérèse, Henriette, Pascale (dated!), Mylène (mee-leyn), Mélaine (mey-leyn), Birgitte (dated), Christine (dated), Jeanne, Cécile, Anne, Hélène, Adrienne (love that one!), Gabrielle, Lucille.

I might have forgotten some accents. Sorry.
Good luck.

[stripedsocks]

I'm fond of:
Delphine
Marguerite
Sabine
Ines
Celestine
Zephirine

I don't like many others. I do feel sort of bad for Marie which I generally hear relegated to being a middle name of no consequence - like Rose I find it more interesting as a first name.

I don't know which of these are stylish or markedly not in France.

[saintjean27]

I live in France (not Paris area) and work with young kids (ages 2-6). Here are some of the most common names of the children in my groups.

Salome
Romane
Ines
Manon
Camille
Luna
Lou
Anais
Maelle
Gaelle
Anaelle
Maelys

Sorry for the lack of accents, but I am responding from my phone.

[ynnig]

The most popular names in France in 2010 were:

1. Emma
2. Lea
3. Manon
4. Chloe
5. Camille
6. Zoe
7. Lola
8. Louise
9. Océane
10. Lilou
11. Jade
12. Clara
13. Maëlys
14. Lucie
15. Lena
16. Alice
17. Ines
18. Mathilde
19. Alicia
20. Sarah

And for boys, the list is:

1. Nathan
2. Lucas
3. Enzo
4. Jules
5. Hugo
6. Noah
7. Arthur
8. Mathis
9. Maxime
10. Leo
11. Tom
12. Louis
13. Clement
14. Alexandre
15. Thomas
16. Raphael
17. Theo
18. Evan
19. Maël
20. Ethan

[thetxbelle]

About accent marks: In French an accent mark does not always imply stress. Names like Léonie and Zélie do not make the prominent AY/EY sound that English speakers try to put on them and to do so sounds almost comically French. Im not sure if that makes sense so I will let you listen to them:

Léonie http://www.forvo.com/word/l%C3%A9onie/#fr
Zélie http://www.forvo.com/word/z%C3%A9lie/#fr

Basically what Im saying is there is something in the way these names are said that cannot be replicated unless you are fluent in the language. "lee oh nee" is a good english prn and the name is still pretty, if you like it I would just say it this way.

Also here is a France/America name comparison so you understand how names are viewed (at least IMO how they are viewed)
Océane = Kinsley/McKenna (that sort of trendy name)
Lilou = Nevaeh (tacky name)
Delphine = Jennifer (dated name)

INot sure if these were mentioned but I think they make nice names: Emerance, Bérénice, Appoline, Bertille, Camille

[kerrie]

Sorry if it's been mentioned already - I have a friend from France named Coralie, and I love that name!

[okparks]

I LOVE Rue. I liked it before the Hunger Games. Although it means regret in English, that doesn't make it any less of a pretty name. I mean, Mary means bitter! It also means street in French. Totally a name that will age well.

Delphine
Sandrine - very nasally in French though
Josephine (right?)
Lucie (alt spelling)
Olympe
Vrai- would be hard to pronounce
Verve
Jolie

[ashthedreamer]

I talked to my friend's sister again. She wanted me to pass these on.

Clara
Lise (can be used alone or paired with another name)
Mélina
Cléa
Noélie/Noélia
Célia/ Célie
Léa/ Eléa
Adèle
Sélène/ Séléna
Alice
Elsa
Sylvie (dated here, but fashionable in the states?)
Zoé
Ambre
Emilie
Eloise

[training4two]

I talked to my friend's sister again. She wanted me to pass these on.

Clara
Lise (can be used alone or paired with another name)
Mélina
Cléa
Noélie/Noélia
Célia/ Célie
Léa/ Eléa
Adèle
Sélène/ Séléna
Alice
Elsa
Sylvie (dated here, but fashionable in the states?)
Zoé
Ambre
Emilie
Eloise

Thank you SO much! Keep 'em coming if she has any more! Those are all great, but for some reason we are still liking Leonie. Of course nothing is for sure, so would love to hear any more she suggests! I am finding it hard like you said, to love how we, in america will say these names. They sound so much better from a french native speaker. Sigh, oh well, we are just trying to decide on the best one that will sound pretty good in our speaking voices as well... Thanks again for all your help!

[training4two]

Thank you so much! Do you have ANY more names you can pass on from your kiddos? Would love to hear any more since you are living there! Thank YOU!

I live in France (not Paris area) and work with young kids (ages 2-6). Here are some of the most common names of the children in my groups.

Salome
Romane
Ines
Manon
Camille
Luna
Lou
Anais
Maelle
Gaelle
Anaelle
Maelys

Sorry for the lack of accents, but I am responding from my phone.