One of my very favorite recent discoveries has to be the birth announcements in Paris’ Le Figaro. The form is as follows: the grandparents, probably a Duc and Duchesse or Baron et Victomtesse, et cetera, announce the birth using the first name only of the child. If other names are posted, there is a comma between each of the names as per rules of French punctuation. In most cases, siblings’ names are listed as are those of the cousins! Feast your eyes on some of these broods.
Always one for the undiscovered gem, but these families take to new heights with their ancient Greek variants. Seems to be a game of one-upsmanship I’d say. Still, some to add to the repetoire.
Petites Filles
Alice (Athénaïs)
Amicie
Antoinette
Arwen, Marie, Victoria
Barbara
Blanche (Hervé, Constance, Romain)
Capucine
Célia (Chloé / Carole, Raphël, et Julien)
Domitille (Benoît, Augustin, Xavier)
Eléonore (Camille)
Félicité (Antoine et Gaspard)
Gabrielle
Garance
Hermine (Sosthène & Célestin)
Jeanne (Enguerrand)
Joséphine (Colombe)
Julie, Marina, Sixtine (Mathieu, Marine et Valentin)
Laura (Axel)
Liza
Louise (Mina, Noë et Hanna)
Louise (Marie, Eugénie et Charles)
Malcy (Alix)
Margaux (Jean)
Paola
Rose
Salomé (Eurydice)
Théa
Victoire (Yves)
Victoria (Arthur et Alexandre)
Violette (Faustine)
Wandrille
Petits Garçons
Artaban (Aladin)
Axel (Cyprien)
Aymeric (Clemence, Capucine, Domitille)
Camille
Charles (Victor and Capucine)
Charles (Alexandre, Roman et Margaux)
Charles (Solène, Alexia et Albane)
Edouard (Auguste)
Ephrème (Auxence)
Florent (Jean)
Gaspard (Théophile)
Jean (Blanche)
Joseph (Alizée, de Théodore, Oscar et Melchior; cousins Antoine, Marguerite, Charles et Gabrielle / Caroline et Margot / Astrid, Pierre-François, Iris, Olympe et Panxika / Marc et Aurore)
Mahaut (Rémi et Thomas)
Maxence
Martin (Clemence, Jeanne, & Blanche; cousins Augustin, Diane, Thomas / Celestine & Grace)
Martin (Elise et Thibault)
Paul
Théophile (Louise, Léopold et Anatole)
Timothée
Valentin (Arthur)
Vianney (Clemence)
Victor
Above: Clothing by Oeuf
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
I love Victoire and Yves! Absolutely lovely set! There’s one woman over at the Baby Name Genie forums with three girls, named Sinéad Rebecca, Shelby Nicole, and Victoire Chadée. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a wonderful set!
I have long lurked on this wondrous, wondrous blog but never mustered the nerve to comment—I’m much too reserved—but at the mentioning of my own babies’ names I couldn’t help but respond! Thank you, Mookie, both for your comment here and for all the wonderful things you’ve said over at BNG… it really makes my day
Delicious! Félicité, Eurydice, Ephrème, Clemence? All wonderful! However, I must say that I find the sibset Mookie listed rather awkward — to my ears the first name sounds Irish, the second American, and the third French.
I am the guilty party of the aforementioned set, haha
You are absolutely right in the origins of my girls’ names. I know they don’t match or ‘flow’ the best, but they each have great personal meaning for me 
My husband is of Irish origin and I am of French; Sinéad honors his heritage and Victoire mine. As for Shelby, it is a much longer (and boring, I’m sure) story, but rest assured hers is just as meaningful, if not even more so. And their middle names are all family names—Rebecca is my mother-in-law, Nicole is my own mother, and Chadée is for my father, Chad.
Thanks for not being offended, Charity! You daughters’ names (which, by the way, I actually do like, I just wouldn’t usually put together) make sense as a sibset now that I know something of the origins of their names.
It’s becoming more and more uncommon for people with the same cultural/ethnic background to marry, and as a result I’m sure it’s becoming more and more common for families of kids with meaningful names but different cultural roots. And like I’ve always ranted when I’ve heard of people who chose their kids names without any apparent rhyme or reason, the meaning is the most important thing!
Charity, welcome to the land of the posters! I love that you chose individual names with meaning and those that honor your heritages. I often think all this focus on “the sibset” is hooey anyway. Never heard that word until I started frequenting the name boards.
I adore Domitille (among others, of course)!
I thought of you when I saw it, Paul.
Vianney? As in St. John Vianney? I’m intrigued …
Fabulous list! In my next life, I want to be a Vicomtesse.
Love, love, love this list, Elisabeth! Merci!
How wonderful! I love seeing Louise. People in America and Australia often write that it is outdated.
This is off topic, but I wasn’t sure where else to post. We are expecting our first baby in october and I’d love some name ideas. We were told to expect a girl, but they weren’t certain, so names for both genders would be nice. Her father only likes betty and steve (I know. I know.) so elizabeth is obviously in the running. If its a girl the middle name must be rosangela, as its both mine and my mothers. Therefore, I’d like to incorporate his slavic roots in the first name. Any opinions would be appreciated!
It was recently suggested to me that Betty could be a nickname for Beatrice/ Beatrix… I thought it was a great idea (but we’ve recently found out we’re expecting a boy, so it’s a moot point for us)… I know that has zip to do with a slavic background, but thought I’d mention it. Basia is a slavic name with a Betty-like short/sassy sound. Stefania for a girl incorporates the Steve and the slavic. I’m a big fan of Russian names (Vera, Olga, and Svetlana are some of my favorites)… Good luck and congratulations!
Rosangela. Italian, yes?
Sorry to be getting so late to this! Do you have any other criteria? I like Betty and Steve. My favorite form of Stephen is with the PH so I’d go with that, and of course Elizabeth is always lovely (and I like the S– totally unbiased of course).
For Betty- many of these aforementioned:
Bettina
Beatrice
Beatrix
Elsbeth
Babette
For Steve-
Stephen
Steven
Esteban
Stephan
Stefan (LOVE this)
Stefano
Let us know more what you’re looking for and maybe we can devote a separate post to this!
This is awesome. Probably one of my favorite BAs you have posted yet. My comments and my favorites from the following:
Athénaïs
Amicie-I went to school with a girl by this name. I think its sweet
Arwen, Marie, Victoria-Not names I’d pair together, but I like all of them, and they do work
Félicité (Antoine et Gaspard)
Garance-GP, its French form Geranium, its got a bit of a harsh sound, but I really appreciate it
Hermine (Sosthène & Célestin)-this is an interesting sibset
Joséphine (Colombe)-I love Colombe, its French for “dove.” Josephine is a nice, sweet classic.
Julie, Marina, Sixtine-what a pretty combination, not a fan of Julie, but I adore the other two names, especially Sixtine pronounced like the Sistine. Great sibset names too! (Mathieu, Marine et Valentin)
Axel
Mina
Eugénie
Malcy (Alix)-I like Alix, not sure about Malcy, never heard of it before
Salomé (Eurydice) another amazing sibset
Violette (Faustine) delightful set!
Wandrille-hmm, this is usually a male name
Artaban (Aladin)
Axel (Cyprien)
Aymeric
Capucine-I adore Capucine!
Roman et Margaux
Albane-I have her on my list. I take her on and off. I’d never consider her for a fn, but she is possible mn material for me.
Ephrème-I like this so much better than Ephraim
Florent
Alizée, Oscar et Melchior; Astrid, Pierre-François, Iris, Olympe et Panxika / Marc et Aurore-these are great sets! Alizée is a new love of mine. I fell in love with it after I got into her music and hearing about why her parents chose the name for her. Astrid & Iris really sound fabulous together. I am very intigued by Panxika, do you know anything about it? I have always loved Melchior.
Mahaut-ooo, what a lovely Medieval gem, I have always love the French male spunky classic: Rémi. It goes great with Mahaut
Valentin
I agree with the above poster that this is the most interesting and enjoyable list of BAs I’ve come across in a long time. I absolutely love Sixtine, Sosthene and Celestine. Oh, to be a French aristocrat. Sigh.
Sarah Rosangela: Your middle name makes me very, very jealous. It is byootiful. I don’t even have a middle name at all! As for your husband’s choices – I actually love Betty and agree with the previous poster that it makes a fantastic nickname for Beatrice/Beatrix. Beatrice Rosangela would be stunning. Elizabeth’s okay but it really bores me now – though the nickname Betty redeems it somewhat, I’d prefer to see a more interesting variant. Elizabetta, perhaps, or Lilibet, or something like that. I’m sure others can come up with better ideas.
Just curious, on Le Figaro, how do you find these? Do you go to their website and type in “naissances” in their search box?
I just came across a BBC radio programme with a host named Bettany. Very pretty, and a very obvious choice if it’s Betty you’re after.
Thanks for letting us know about Le Figaro birth announcements online. I find French names very interesting. I recently received an announcement from French friends on the birth of Amaury. As the parents already had two sons and a daughter, I was pleased that they’d had a second girl — until I looked up the name and discovered that Amaury is a boy’s name. Their other children are Guilhem, François and Constance.
Amaury is a fairly common male name in France. I also found out that Sosthene is male too. I looked it up. Before, I thought it was feminine.