French Girl Names from 11th Century Normandy

The following are female names recorded from 11th century records in modern-day Normandy, France (which was sourced from the Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 3009 by Florens van Flardingh, Talan Gwynek, Walraven van Nijmegen, Arval Benicoeur, Maridonna Benvenuti, Gunnvor Silfraharr, Fiora Soranzo, and Juliana de Luna). I consider the names I chose to be currently uncommon yet suitable for a modern baby.
  1. Adela
    • Origin:

      German
    • Meaning:

      "noble"
    • Description:

      This variation of Adele sounds somewhat more feminine than the original by virtue of the a- ending. It could join the army of popular A girls' names, especially with its tie to the recent celebrity-related success of Adele.
  2. Adelina
    • Origin:

      Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Slavic variation of Adeline
    • Meaning:

      "noble, nobility"
    • Description:

      Adelina is back in the Top 1000 after an absence of nearly a century, thanks to the meteoric rise of her sister name Adeline -- along with Adelaide, Adele, and Ada. Some parents choose Adelina because they want to get to cute vintage nickname Addie, but others favor it as a slightly more unusual form of this sweet vintage girls' name. A lot of attention was focused on it recently via the women's figure skating gold medal winner at the Sochi winter olympics--Adelina Sotnikova.

      While Adeline is usually pronounced in the U.S. with a long i in the last syllable, to rhyme with mine, Adelina is pronounced with the long e sound at the end, as in 'lee-na'.

  3. Adeliza
    • Origin:

      Medieval English and Old Swedish form of Adelaide
    • Meaning:

      "noble, nobility"
    • Description:

      Adeliza is a unique member of the popular Adelaide-Adeline family. Different enough to distinguish it from all the others? Maybe, and it's definitely got an appealing sound that makes it sound a bit like a smoosh of Adele and Eliza.
  4. Amelina
    • Origin:

      Old German form of Emmeline and Amelia
    • Meaning:

      "work"
    • Description:

      Now that the range of names including the modern Emmeline and Amelia -- relatives of each other, but of neither Emily nor Emma -- has become so fashionable, the original root name Amelina is also due up for reconsideration. A lovely, delicate choice, its main disadvantage is that it sounds like a modern elaboration rather than the original name. And perhaps that it will be so often misspelled and mistaken for other forms of itself. But it is a lovely name with deep roots.
  5. Amia
    • Origin:

      Variation of Amy
    • Description:

      This Amy/Mia combination debuted on the US Top 1000 in 2013. It could also be seen as a variant of Amaya.
  6. Adelida
    • Celestria
      • Emmelina
        • Origin:

          Variation of Emmeline, Old French form of archaic German Amal
        • Meaning:

          "work"
        • Description:

          Emmelina, which can rhyme with "keener" or "liner", is a frillier and much less common version of Emmeline. While Emmeline was in the US Top 1000 girl names in 2022, Emmelina was given to fewer than 5 girls, so it didn't even make it into the extended baby name charts.
      • Eulalia
        • Origin:

          Greek
        • Meaning:

          "sweetly speaking"
        • Description:

          Eulalia is a melodious name with a southern drawl, thanks to those lilting double Ls.
      • Elaria
        • Isolda
          • Malina
            • Origin:

              Feminine form of Malcolm or spelling variation of Melina or Polish, Bulgarian, Serbian
            • Meaning:

              "raspberry"
            • Description:

              Malina is a synthetic-feeling name that may be a feminization of the Scottish Malcolm or a spelling twist on the Greek Melina and that also has a fruit meaning in several Eastern European languages. For all that it's a little bit of lots of things, Malina doesn't feel very much like itself.
          • Odelina
            • Sabina
              • Origin:

                Latin
              • Meaning:

                "Sabine"
              • Description:

                Sabina is a sleek but neglected name from an ancient Roman tribal name that's well worth consideration. The equally alluring Sabine is heard in France and Germany. Related names include the more popular Sabrina or Serena. All are equally lovely.