And the current most popular names for babies in France are?
The Local - [email protected] •
18 Oct, 2017
Updated Wed 18 Oct 2017 14:33 CEST
The new ranking for the most popular baby names in France has been released and not all of them sound very French.
The book of France's most popular baby names (L'Officiel des prénoms), published annually, is due to hit book stands tomorrow.
A first glance at the girls names and you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a list of the most popular baby names in the UK.
Louise takes the crown for the girls, followed by Emma and then Jade.
Although while Louise is a now very common Anglo name, it's also a very traditional name in France and is the female version of the French name Louis. And while we are at it, Emma is believed to have a Germanic origin and Jade has Spanish origins.
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Photo: Le Monde and Alan Light/ Wikimedia
The 2018 rankings also revealed French parents are largely returning to tradition when it comes to naming their children.
Making up the rest of the top ten for girls were the more French sounding Chloé, Alice, Léa, Manon. Lina and Mila were also in the top 10 showing how the French are in favour of simple names that end in "a". The more latin name Ines also made the top 10.
When it comes to the boys the traditional French names Gabriel, Raphaël and Jules made up the top three on of the list.
Leo, Lucas, Adam, Louis, Liam, Ethan and Hugo also made it into the top ten for male babies.
This year marks the tenth in a row that Louise and Gabriel have taken the top spots for babies born in Paris and the greater Paris area.
The official list predicts that 5,000 baby girls will be named Louise in 2018 alone and nearly 6,000 boys will be called Gabriel.
We are a far cry from 1991 when French parents turned their backs on traditional Gallic names and went absolutely mad for the name: Kevin.
That year, some 14,087 bébé Kévins came into the world in France, with the accepted explanation pointing to two Hollywood films.
Dancing with Wolves, starring Kevin Costner and Home Alone, whose main character was Kevin McCallister, played by Macauley Culkin took to the screens worldwide just one year before.
See Also
The book of France's most popular baby names (L'Officiel des prénoms), published annually, is due to hit book stands tomorrow.
A first glance at the girls names and you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a list of the most popular baby names in the UK.
Louise takes the crown for the girls, followed by Emma and then Jade.
Although while Louise is a now very common Anglo name, it's also a very traditional name in France and is the female version of the French name Louis. And while we are at it, Emma is believed to have a Germanic origin and Jade has Spanish origins.
READ ALSO:
Photo: Le Monde and Alan Light/ Wikimedia
The 2018 rankings also revealed French parents are largely returning to tradition when it comes to naming their children.
Making up the rest of the top ten for girls were the more French sounding Chloé, Alice, Léa, Manon. Lina and Mila were also in the top 10 showing how the French are in favour of simple names that end in "a". The more latin name Ines also made the top 10.
When it comes to the boys the traditional French names Gabriel, Raphaël and Jules made up the top three on of the list.
Leo, Lucas, Adam, Louis, Liam, Ethan and Hugo also made it into the top ten for male babies.
This year marks the tenth in a row that Louise and Gabriel have taken the top spots for babies born in Paris and the greater Paris area.
The official list predicts that 5,000 baby girls will be named Louise in 2018 alone and nearly 6,000 boys will be called Gabriel.
We are a far cry from 1991 when French parents turned their backs on traditional Gallic names and went absolutely mad for the name: Kevin.
That year, some 14,087 bébé Kévins came into the world in France, with the accepted explanation pointing to two Hollywood films.
Dancing with Wolves, starring Kevin Costner and Home Alone, whose main character was Kevin McCallister, played by Macauley Culkin took to the screens worldwide just one year before.
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