739 French Girl Names

Has a musty 1940s feel. Try Georgia -- or Georgiana.

A pretty name heard in the Louisiana Cajun community, Abella would fit right in with all the other, more familiar, bella names.

Sasha in all its forms -- which include Sacha and Sascha -- is rising in popularity for both boys and girls, especially with the Sasha spelling attached to one of the First Daughters.

It's interesting how names imported to the US from other countries and cultures have fashion cycles of their own. Paulette along with cousins Annette and Claudette were the most fashionable French imports in the middle of the last century, only to sink from sight and be replaced by such current French favorites as Charlotte, Sophie, and Eloise. In general, feminizations of male names have faded in favor of gender-neutral choices, and Paul itself is off its own fashion peak. But Paulette has the same vintage charm as names like Margot and Josephine that are very much a la mode. And far from being extinct, Paulette hits that sweet spot of names that are familiar but not over-used. It was given to about 130 baby girls in the US last year, on par with May, Avalon, Jolee, Liza, and Vivianne. This is three times as many baby girls as were named Paulette in 2000, so while the name may still lie well beneath the Top 1000, it's very much on the way up.

A trendy name in France, sometimes also spelled Ysaline, that's related to both Isabelle and Iseult. To the American ear, it freshens up Isabelle without really improving on it.

For years there was only one Cher, and then along came the charming heroine of the movie "Clueless." The world now officially has enough Chers in it.

Ghislaine still sounds unusual to us, even though in France this name is dated. It can also be spelled Ghislain.

For a girl, we'd say Val-en-teen, though many would insist on pronouncing it like the holiday.

The rarer long form of Priscilla, which comes from the Roman name Priscus, meaning "ancient".

Leona with a French accent that gives it a bit more flair. It's currently very popular there – in the Top 30 for French baby girls.

Innovative French word name, suggesting illumination and clarity.

The grandiose name of a French revolutionary – in full: Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau. Mirabeau likely derives from Latin mirabilis, making it a masculine cousin of Mirabelle.

With Angelina becoming so popular thanks to Ms. Jolie, this could be a new twist—but everyone will always misunderstand it as Angelina. While it currently ranks at Number 951 in the US, it's Number 352 in France.

Yes, we tend to think of Claude as a male name and Claudia and Claudette as the female, but this ancient clan name is used in France for girls as well as boys, and could make a distinctively chic boy name for girls here too. You may be surprised to know that Claude was in fairly regular use for American girls in the 1880's and nineties, reaching as high as 553 in 1880.

This regal French name is a descendant of the Latin Regina, as is the Spanish Reina. Reine is also a male name in Scandinavia.

Calm, composed, and chic.

Though it's French, most Americans would pronounce it as the stone.

Angelique was the fastest-rising girl name of 2021, influenced by French-Mexican actress Angelique Boyer, who starred in the telenovela Imperio de mentiras (Empire of Lies).