500+ French Dog Names

If Joely (as in actress Richardson) is a name, why not Noely? As nickname-names become both more acceptable and more fashionable, Noely may be a fresh spin on one traditional name for Christmas babies.

Depending on your cultural references, you may think of Phantom of the Opera author Gaston Leroux, or the macho villain of Beauty and the Beast. While he's hardly a role model (unless you too use antlers in all of your decorating), his name was likely chosen because it's a classic in France. It's been used there since the middle ages, partly in honor of the Frankish bishop St Gaston. It went out of style in France mid-century, but now it's having a revival, entering the Top 300 in 2017.

The name of the great French novelist, author of the timeless The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers, would make a surprising middle name choice.

The kind of French name that seemed daring -- and darling -- in the sixties.

A less common relic of the Claudette-Paulette-Annette era.

Philippe, pronounced fill-EEP, is Philip with Gallic flair.

Loose, lean, and lanky cowboy-sounding names have become a recent trend, but how about the name of a real one--the Singing Cowboy Gene. Autry might be thought of as a masculine spin on the fashionable Audrey or a fresher version of Austin or Auden.

Some other cowboy surnames from the Golden Age of movie and TV westerns: Boone, Boyd, Cody, Corrigan, Gibson, Hart, Holt, Houston, McCoy and Renaldo.

Mason with a French accent. It first entered the US Top 1000 in 2012, and it will likely hang on for as long as its brother-in-spelling-variations, Mayson.

The French variation of Giselle was made famous by the spectacular Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen.

One of the jewel names in use a hundred years ago, due for revival along with sisters Ruby and Pearl.

Common in France, but could be confused with the feminine Maxine here.

Varying Filbert does not improve the name: it still makes one think of a nut.

Desi makes Desiree a lot cuter and more boyish.

Attractive, underused name made famous by the heroine of The Color Purple. Still, if you're going to go to Celie, why not go all the way to Celia or Cecelia? You can always use Celie for short.

Most contemporary parents would probably opt for the more streamlined Elle.

Seems destined to be the preferred short form of this old French name, with its brief, modern, word name feel.

Beach boy name of the 1960s, Darrell is still a presence on the charts and may graduate into a stately surname name.

The iconic Gone With the Wind star Clark's surname was brought into the first-name mix when Weeds' Kevin Nealon picked it for his son. Gable makes a strong and unusual possibility, a rhyming cousin to Abel and Mabel.