500+ French Dog Names

Naming babies for personal heroes is the cool contemporary trend followed by Woody Allen when he honored New Orleans jazz clarinetist Sidney Bechet in his daughter's name--adding the middle name Dumaine after a cornet player who was another of his musical heroes. Bechet has a nice, catchy Gallic feel.

Pleasant-sounding word that could morph into a unique Sunday-picnic-type name.

Randall Jarrell was an important mid-20th century poet; his surname makes a pleasingly soft name for a girl.

A surname with a lot of "juice," as they say, in Hollywood. In addition to veteran character actor Oliver Platt, there's La La Land producer Marc Platt and his actor son, Ben Platt, who won a Tony for Best Actor as the star of Broadway smash Dear Evan Hansen.

Conjures up a tweedy English country gentleman with a large paunch.

Fur names. We don't think so.

The French version of Candida, and with no unfortunate medical connection, much more wearable. It has never been recorded in the US charts, but could be a charming alternative to names like Cosette, Celine, Celeste, or Constance. In France, although not common, it was used in small numbers in the 1970s and 1980s.

Sounds too much like the name of a minivan.