22.3.10

bilingual names

we are having a really hard time finding names we

a) both like

b) work in French (our kids will go to French school and live in QC so it's pretty important)

c)still work in English (all of the kids' family members are Anglophone and they'll still go to church and speak English at home)

ESPECIALLY for boy's names. Girls names tend to work easily in French and English because feminine sounds are often borrowed from French. Take Emily. Emilie, and just like that you have a French name. Or better yet, Amelie. But boys names are much harder. Most of the boys names I've mentioned liking we both agree could never work in French since they come from my Scottish background, and sound ridiculous when pronounced by anyone with a French or Quebecois accent (believe me, we've tried).

We have our names chosen for the first TWO girls we have (if we ever have girls!) but boys names, we haven't thought of any that we're both sold on. A lot of names that we like in French (i.e. Etienne) we don't like in English (Stephen). Or names we like in English (i.e. Luke) we don't like in French (Luc, pronounced "LOOK").

Sigh. I'm sure if we find out we are having a boy, 3 weeks from now, we'll start thinking more seriously and find something, but it's been a lost cause so far.

Suggestions welcome!!
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13 comments:

  1. V22.3.10

    Ah, what a predicament!
    Alex is a nice (if not common) name that goes easily in either language.
    I also REALLY like the name Sebastian (Sebastien) or Bastien for short.
    Or there's always Cyrano. Haha...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Emily Morrice22.3.10

    ooo Brad really likes Sebastien, and Bastien, though when I see "Bastien" my brain sees "bastard"... yikes... Maybe I'd go with the long version always :) Thank you! Good advice!!

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  3. Unknown22.3.10

    call him Seb for short!
    we had a guy on project named Sebastian and we ended up calling him Seb.

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  4. Emily Morrice22.3.10

    I'm working on Brad, I like Olivier (Oliver) but he only likes it in French... I do like Sebastien, but it wouldn't be a #1 baby boy choice I don't think, definitely could be top 5 though!

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  5. jilanbil@yahoo.ca22.3.10

    We had the very same problem! And 3 boys who needed cool names that work in both languages. It was tough, so I feel your pain! What about Mathias?

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  6. Brianna22.3.10

    I have two french cousins...Gabriel (prounced kinda like Grabrielle) and Francois (Or Frank)...

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  7. Unknown22.3.10

    Gah, accidently deleted my comment.
    What I was going to say how cute I think the name Oliver is :D
    I feel like that name suits a baby boy you guys would have (if that makes sense)
    And I LOVE it en Francais! Olivier!

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  8. Emily Morrice23.3.10

    Jill what names did you go with for your boys?

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  9. Sharon23.3.10

    I've never heard someone name Etienne being called Stephan/ Stephen just because English was being spoken. And Etienne is still pronouncable in English.

    That being said, there are lots of boys names that work in both languages. I will try not to repeat anything already suggested above:

    Daniel
    David
    Dominic
    George
    Simon
    Max
    Paul
    Samuel
    Anthony
    Joseph
    Noah
    Vincent
    Mateo
    Charles
    Robert
    Nicholas
    Andre
    Terry
    Eric
    Thomas
    Lucas
    Kevin
    Felix
    Frederic
    Claude
    Ezra
    Leo
    Hugo
    Tristan
    Gregory
    Mark

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  10. Emily Morrice23.3.10

    wow that's a long list! Thanks Sharon!! Etienne for my family would definitely not work in that it's "too french". You have to understand they've never taken a single french class and that name is pretty hard core :) though I like it.

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  11. Sharon24.3.10

    Haha, sorry... I didn't realise how long the list was until I published.. Maybe I should have written in paragraph form rather than list.

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  12. Anonymous17.10.13

    how about Michael

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous27.11.13

    How about Joel, or Joël in French?

    ReplyDelete

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