Ou

Since I was talking about a Swiss family yesterday, it seems as if we should continue our continental talk by retreating once again back to France. You see, I was scrolling through the 2010 French data on BehindTheName, when I noticed that an awful lot of names contained the letters o and u side-by-side – especially a lot of lou names (Woo!).

Here’s a complete list of the names in alphabetical order, with the majority of meanings courtesy of MeilleurPrénoms:

BOYS:

Abdoulaye (#439) – servant of God, Arabic. Abdoulaye Méïté plays for Dijon FC and Abdoulaye Wade is the former President of Senegal.

Amadou (#468) – possibly a variant of Amadeus, which means love of God in Latin. Could also be taken from the French word amadou, which means tinder or derive from Arabic and mean praiseworthy

Ayoub (#95) – repentance, Arabic

Édouard (#209) – French form of Edward, which means guardian of wealth

Elouan (#170) – possibly derives from Celtic and means light

Lou (#451) – short for Lou- names

Louca (#307) – variation of Luke, which means from Lucania

Loucas (#325) – see Louca

Louis (#5) – derives from Ludwig and means famous warrior

Louison (#321) – could mean son of Louis or simply be a petform of the name Louis/Louise

Louka (#85) – see Louca

Loukas (#449) – see Louca

Mahamadou (#459) – praiseworthy, Arabic

Mamadou (#316) – newly weaned, Arabic

Marouane (#340) – rock, quartz, Arabic

Moussa (#251) – saved from the waters, Arabic

Ousmane (#475) – young serpent/snake, Arabic

Souleymane (#370) – healthy, intact, safe, Arabic

Titouan (#59) – variant of Antoine, which means flower, Greek or invaluable, Latin

Youcef (#335) – God will save, Hebrew

Younes (#105) – close to God, Hebrew

Youssef (#145) – see Youcef

GIRLS

Anouk (#154) – grace, Hebrew

Dounia (#237) – wealth, Arabic

Fatoumata (#214) – small camel that has just been weaned, Arabic

Leelou (#381) – variant of Lilou

Lilou (#12) – derived from the character in Luc Besson’s film The Fifth Element

Lou (#25) – short form of Lou- names

Lou-Ann (#156) – combination of the name Lou and the name Ann

Lou-Anne (#167) – variant of Lou-Ann

Louane (#29) – variant of Lou-Ann

Louann (#327) – variant of Lou-Ann

Louanne (#200) – variant of Lou-Ann

Louisa (#195) – famed warrior, Germanic

Louise (#10) – variant of Louisa

Louison (#274) – see Louison above

Louna (#19) – variant of Luna, which means moon

Lylou (#105) – see Lilou

Maimouna (#403) – happy, Arabic

Marilou (#284) – smoosh of Marie and Lou

Marylou (#291) – see Marilou

Nour (#117) – variant of Noor, which means light in Arabic

Soukaina (#486) – wellness, Arabic

Soumaya (#331) – perfect, high, Arabic

Youna (#453) – if, Celtic

Yousra (#256) – who has good character, Arabic

Not too French

Christophe Maé, from christophe-mae.fr

We kicked the week off looking at a very modern sounding French sibset, so it seems fitting to return to the topic of French names to end the week. Not French words, just French names. Specifically French names that are not too French, like Thibault is. I love the name Thibault, but chances are that you haven’t a clue how to say him, and neither will the majority of the English-speaking population. He’s likely too French for those who don’t have a grasp of the language. If you’re still musing about how to say Thibault, it’s tee-bo.

At the other end of the spectrum is the second most popular girls name in England&Wales: Sophie – the French form of Sophia. And I recently met a Manon/Matisse sibset at a very British cricket club. Other French forms of popular English names include:

Alexandre

Ambre

Bastien (short form of Sébastien)

Christophe

Émilie

Guillaume

Mathieu

Mathilde

But it’s the middle ground of popularity we’re looking at. Something distinctly French. Like Clement. Meilleur Prénoms put him at #19 in 2009 for France. You may have heard Clementine mentioned more and more often, but it’s the masculine name which has really taken off in France of late. On the same list, Clemence ranked at #34 for girls.

Another male name example is Jules. The only Jules I know who aren’t Julians are French. French singer Christophe Maé and his partner Nadège welcomed a son named Jules in 2008. We seem to spell it differently here in Britain as British chef Jamie Oliver is married to a Juliette ‘Jools’ and we also have the widely popular Jools Holland here in Britain, who was born Julian Miles. Jools Miles sounds quintessentially jazz, doesn’t it?

The name Enzo is hugely popular in France, too. I’ve seen people call him the male equivalent of called your child Porsche. The name reportedly became popular in France following Zinedine Zidane using it for his son. Yes, the Zinedine Zidane who famously headbutted an Italian player in the 2006 World Cup final. Enzo is a somewhat controversial name in France, given that it’s Italian, not French. Moreover, the Italian short form of Vincenzo and Lorenzo. Enzo is a zippy little name, especially good if you think Ezra is going to the girls – a name Abby recently featured as a re-run.

Another zippy short name popular in Frenchy-land is Axel. To English ears, this may sound like a somewhat rugged name – and that may add to his charm for you. My other favourite French male name beginning with an A is Aurelian, and we can’t forget to mention Rémi. Yes, he has an accent but I’ve seen plenty parents forgoe this. Infact whilst on the subject of accents, I have a friend named Chloé because her Dad became mixed up when he went to register her – she should be a Chloë.

One of the more popular female names in France right now is Clara – currently at #201 in England&Wales, and not strictly a French name per se. A very French invention cooking up a storm in France is Lilou. Yes, I love Lilou, she’s like a Lily/Lucy smoosh that just seems to work. In a similar vein, the French also love Luna, or their slight variant spelling of Louna. They also recognise the rocking-awesomenous of Lou.

Romain and Romane are popular for boys and girls, respectively; Same goes for Leo and Leonie; Valentin and Valentine. Whilst we may consider Agatha still slightly aged for our babes, the French are embracing their version: Agathe. Another A name they love is Amandine: their version of the once popular name Amanda. There’s also Amine for the lads which has origins in Arabic, and means truthful. For me, I think of the organic compounds known as Amines, but that’s by-the-by. The French and Dutch variation of Anna is also popular: Anouk.

Finally, there’s the Mae– group of names to consider: Maëlys;Maëlle;Maeva;Maeline; Maelie. They all sound distinctly French, but the pronunciation may not come naturally to you. For Maëlys, it’s mah-el-EES; for Maëlle, it’s mah-el.