What are France's most popular baby names?

For the girls, it's predicted that the most popular name next year will be.... Louise. 

 

A new and extensive study has predicted that parents will name 5,000 babies so next year.

 

Following close behind will be Jade, then Emma, which is one of eight names in the top 20 that end with the letter a.

 

On the boy's side, Gabriel will be the most popular name, according to the new study, far ahead of Jules and Raphael that are joint second in the list.

 

Adam follows up in fourth place, but is first in Paris, Marseille and Nice. Its popularity can be attributed to its presence in most main religions.

 

The author behind L'Officiel des Prénoms, Stéphanie Rapoport, relies on statistics from the INSEE, the National Institute for Statistical and Economic Studies, and registers of births from previous years.

 

"Parents are looking for gentle-sounding names and therefore favour vowel sounds and short names of one or two syllables," Rapoport told Le Parisien newspaper.

 

"The retro side of names is also popular, but not just any one. Classic and forgotten ones, such as Louis, Jules, Paul for boys and Lourse, Rose or Camille for girls."

 

"Fifty years ago, the choice was much more narrow, as there are still over half a million people named Marie, Jean or Michel today," she said.

 

The book also revealed that double-barrelled names have become a thing of the past.

 

"We'll have to wait for those bearing the names today, the Jean-Marie or the Marie-Claude, to disappear before we see their names come back into fashion, maybe, in a couple of decades."

 

Charlie is a name that has also lost interest from parents. Whilst it had a growing popularity for both newborn boys and girls in the early 2000s, to the point that overtook the ever-popular Charles, it appears it has become too difficult to bear after the terrorist attack against the Charlie Hebdo newspaper in 2015.