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French, clunky and chic
Yesterday, I was having some late night prose-related thought and it suddenly dawned on me that I needed a French, old lady-chic name. I went through the list on BtN and even after a long night's sleep, Bertille (which I imagine is pronounced something like behr-TEE) really stuck with me. What do you think of Bertille? What do you think of the clunky chic names I picked out from the list of French names, while awake this time?It's a long list, so don't feel you have to comment on every single name!Agathe
Albertine
Albine
Alphonsine
Blandine
Clotilde
Elvire
Émilienne
Florentine
Gilberte (Gilbert for a chap, en français, is also very endearing)
Honorine
Josèphe
Laurentine
Léopoldine
Ludivine
Magalie
Maximilienne
Pétronille
Rosemonde
VictorineAlso, how do we all feel about Océane? Much obliged!
Ottilie


http://www.behindthename.com/pnl/116467
http://www.babynames.com/namelist/9808453
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Bertille is quite neat. I like it more the more I say it to myself. It's fun to say. :)Off your list I'm particularly fond of Léopoldine (probably because Leopold is tied for my favorite boy's name right now). I also really like Agathe, Laurentine, Ludivine, Magalie, Maximilienne, and Rosemonde. I feel like I could really like Pétronille, Albertine, and Gilberte in the right combos. I think they'd make really excellent middle names, particularly (I LOVE clunky middle names, especially with simpler first names).Océane is nice, if a little... obvious? Is that the word I'm looking for? In any case, I think a little Océane would fit in perfectly with all the other nature names that are big nowadays and no one would really blink, even with the French spelling.
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Thank you! :)
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I like Bertille a lot. It has attitude.From your list, I like...Rosemonde
Maximilienne
Leopoldine
Laurentine
Honorine
Emilienne
Albertine
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I think that's what I like about Bertille - she doesn't sound like she's going to take any nonsense!
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Oceane has been a guilty pleasure of mine since I was like 12. At that time I thought it would be genuinely super classy and sophisticated for a little American girl, but in retrospect it's kind of gimmicky. I still like it though :)
Agathe - meh I just prefer Agatha or Agata
Albertine - pretty cool but most things with -bert aren't my favorite
Albine - hmm just reminds me of describing a rat without any pigment :(
Alphonsine - very cool!
Blandine - haha sorry the Bland sticks out too much
Clotilde - never been a huge fan, in terms of -tilldes I'm a Mathilde/Matilde kind of girl
Elvire - I wouldn't know how to pronounce it but it looks badass
Émilienne - beautiful
Florentine - probably my favorite on this list! aside from the fact that I love eggs florentine, I think of a beautiful floral painting or landscape
Gilberte - cute
Honorine - ehh a little much for me
Josèphe - nice! I adore Josepha myself, it's one of my favorites
Laurentine - gorgeous
Léopoldine - ooh this is probably my second favorite on this list
Ludivine - this is cool!
Magalie - not a big fan of this one
Maximilienne - cool
Pétronille - ehh, not feeling it
Rosemonde - wow I almost forgot about this name! so beautiful
Victorine - not my favorite of the Victor- names but very nice
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I agree that Océane is gimmicky, but I think I like it nonetheless, heh!
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VictorineMy husband's mother's name was Victoria, however, she was usually called Victorine. She would have been my mother-in-law, but I never knew her, she died young.
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Victoria "Victorine" is rather sweet and endearing.
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Capucine was a sexy French actress half a century ago that is a tres chic baby name in Paris right now.
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Yes, I had some inkling that Capucine was en vogue at the minute.
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So, I taught English in France in public schools and some of these names aren't as old-fashioned as you might think! I had students named Agathe, Florentine and Ludivine. The rest I would think are fairly obscure, but I'm not sure.
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Oh, that's good to hear! I was hoping someone would be able to tell me how accurate I was.
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I really like Bertille- oddly enough, am not into any if the others you mentioned. LolI feel like a search of "*ie usage:French" might yield some nice results. Frenchified already female names, rather than just feminization of male ones.Oceane I don't get. Check out its stats- I was mad surprised how popular it is in France.
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Yep, I found them through looking up French names! I just happened to choose a lot of feminisations as they seemed the clunkiest to me.
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Oh, here's a clunker I found recently: Nadege. Just wAnted to give her a lil spotlight. Such a funny congested name.
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I must have breezed past that one! It's fun, I like it!
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Those are mostly all delightfully clunky. Except Magalie. That seem s quite modern.One I've come across is Bibbianne. Oceane (sorry, can't do accent on my keyboard) is good, quite popular where I live, among very small girls, nothing over age 5, I wouldn't think.
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Ooh, Bibianne, interesting! Océanne getting some usage makes me happy.
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