Fabulous French Fancies

Maybe it's because she shares that winning -elle sound with Isabel and Bella, but Estelle is no longer seen as a muumuu-wearing canasta player of a certain age (think George Costanza's mother on Seinfeld or Joey Tribbiani's talent agent in Friends). This could be in part thanks to the young Royal Couple of Sweden, who chose it for their firstborn daughter, or the single-named British R&B singer. It reentered the US Top 1000 in 2012 after a nearly fifty-year absence.

A variation made famous by Australian Aboriginal tennis champ Evonne Goolagong.

Fantine is a rarely heard French name except as a character in the Victor Hugo novel Les Misérables.

With the advent of Pope Francis, all forms of this ancient and saintly name came up for a fresh look. Along with most other -een and -ine (when pronounced like -een) names for girls, Francine has a dated midcentury Mad Men feel. But its choice for their daughter by modern glamour couple Casey Neistat and Candice Pool, respectively a video star and a jewelry designer, has made Francine chic again.

In France it's sometimes bestowed as a patriotic gesture; in English-speaking places it has an air of genteel sophistication.

Actor French Stewart introduced this one to the lexicon. French is part word name, part place name, and part surname-name, reminiscent of celebrity baby names that reference a nationality rather than simply a place, such as Moroccan.

Gabriella is the feminine form of Gabriel, a name derived from the Hebrew Gavri’el. Gavri’el is composed of the elements gever, meaning "strong," and ’el, referring to God. Gabriella is used among a variety of cultures in the US, including Italian Americans, Latinos, and in the Jewish community. Gabriela is the Spanish spelling.

A relatively common French surname associated with sometimes scandalous French novelist/dramatist Jean Genet. The name may derive from genêt, the French name for the broom shrub. Alternatively, it can derive from the French forms of Eugene, John or Janet as an ancestral surname.

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

Like twins Helene and Elaine, a relic of the 1930s to 40s French Renaissance of names.

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.

Has lost all trace of its French accent.

Jolie is as pretty as its literal meaning; nowadays it is also seen as a girls’ name, via Angelina for whom Jolie was originally her middle name.

Fine in France, but here it means vegetables sliced into thin strips.

Lainie is a nickname for Elaine that has been in the public eye via Lainie Kazan (that was her full given name), who was a popular singer in the 1960s and 1970s (she was Barbra Streisand's understudy in "Funny Girl"), and then became a motherly character actress. We still find Lainie a bit flimsy for a full first name.

Leonie is a chic French and German form of a name that exists in a range of variations from Leona to Leonia to Leon to Leo to Lionel, all newly fashionable after a couple of generations in style limbo.

Lucienne is a soft and ultra-sophisticated French-accented option in the Lucy family, one that could provide a fresh alternative to such fatigued Gallic choices as Danielle and Michelle.

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.

Manon is an endearing French pet name for Marie or Marianne; it has the international yet straightforward feel that makes it a viable import. Manon of the Spring was a gorgeous French film, Manon Lescaut a 1731 novel by Abbe Prevost, set in France and Louisiana, that was controversial in its day. It formed the basis of operas by Puccini and Massenet, and several films and TV series.

Marcheline was the first name of Angelina Jolie's late mother, who was part French-Canadian, which Jolie and Brad Pitt used as the middle name for their twin daughter Vivienne. The name is related to the Latin Marcellus and Marcus, which come from Mars, the name of the God of War, and is often spelled Marceline. Jolie's mother's birth name was Marcia Lynne.