1200+ French Names (with Meanings and Popularity)

While this name came into being in the Victorian era as a nickname for a man with whiskers, the name was quickly embraced as a true name by the Victorians and is likely most familiar to you as the name of Oscar Wilde's fabulous character in The Importance of being Earnest . However, Algernon is not confined to the fictional world of satire; many real world namesakes exist including US footballer Algernon Crumpler (aka Alge Crumpler), British impressionist painter Algernon Talmage, and Canadian astrophysicist Joseph Algernon Pearce, who discovered many thinks about the Milky Way. Plus, who can go past the adorable nickname Algie?

A Top 100 name from the 1930s all the way through the 1950s, it's now firmly in Mom -- or Grandma -- land and supplanted for babies by Joanna.....or even great-grandmother Josephine. In its heyday, it had a host of variations, including JoAnn and Jo-Anne.

The Anatolian mother goddess Cybele had a place in Greek, Roman, Trojan, and Anatolian mythology. Today, she has special meaning as a symbol of gender nonconformity.

Actress Sigourney -- born Susan -- Weaver made this unusual name (which she found in The Great Gatsby) famous, if not popular.

In this form, or as Sebastian or as Bas, Bastien is a fashionable Euro name with a possible future in America.

There are much chicer versions of this name today, such as Claudie, Claudia, or Claude itself. Claudine is a name wobbling on the edge of extinction.

In the past this was seen as a jokey Southern colonel name, but we have heard of some parents considering it as a path to the likeable Beau.

This courtly old Southern name has several cool male bearers: NFL player Courtney Brown, British jazz musician Courtney Pine, and Barbados-born economist Courtney Blackman, to name but a few.

Thayer is an affable, less-common alternative to Taylor, with a much more indirect connection to its occupational source. Actor Thayer David (born David Thayer: Thayer was his father's first name) was known for his roles in Rocky and Dark Shadows.

Linda begat Lynn which gave way to Lynette, which peaked in the late 1960s. Lynette has been off the Top 1000 for a couple decades now, and the Lynn variations finding the most favor are those that put the "lyn" part at the end: Evelyn, Madelyn, Brooklyn.

Yannick originated as a diminutive of Yann, the Breton form of John. However, it has since become popular as a standalone name in its native region of Brittany, as well as in France as a whole, where it peaked at #31 in 1973-4. It remains well within the Top 500 in France to this day, and has also seen regular use in Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Quebec.

This long-popular name in France sounds fresh, elegant and unusual here. Severine is the name of the most recent gorgeous James Bond Girl in the film Skyfall. Students of film history will associate the name with the complex character Catherine Deneuve played in the 1967 Bunuel classic, Belle de Jour..

Florin is one of the legion of names derived from the root word for flower, most of them like Flora and Florence used for girls. But the boys' form Florin is among the popular French names for boys, along with sister name Fleur for girls. There was a ninth century Swiss St. Florin. The related Florian was the name of a second century Roman saint.

Apolline is a luscious French name chic in Paris and ripe for the plucking in the English-speaking world. Derived from the mythological name Apollo, the name may mean strength; Apollo was the god of sun and light. Apolline is a perfect choice for those attracted to the name Apple who don't want to go quite that far.

This feminine form of Mael has the distinctive "aelle" ending found in Brittany. In the French spelling Maëlle, it is a Top 100 girls' name in France.

Fun fact: Marion was the birth name of movie star John Wayne. Although commonly thought of as a female name today, it was actually more popular for boys until the late 19th century, and was given to roughly equal numbers of boys and girls throughout the 1970s-2000s.

Best left on the old southern plantation, sipping his mint julep.

Regal and ancient feeling, Jacques has been declining in popularity in its native France, but in the UK, it saw a surprising revival in 2022. Jumping from somewhere around the #2500 mark straight to #600, it was seven times more popular than in 2021.

Attracted attention as the stepmother of Princess Diana.