French Name - Given Names

Given Names

French people have one, two or more given names. One of them, almost always the first, is used in daily life (but someone can also have an usage name that was not given); the others are solely for official documents, such as birth, death and marriage certificates. Thus, one always speaks of Jacques Chirac and never of Jacques René Chirac; and Henri Philippe Pétain is always referred to as Philippe Pétain (or Marshal Pétain), because Philippe was the given name that he used in daily life. Middle initials are not used. For example, although English-speaking scientific publications may cite Claude Allègre as Claude J. Allègre, this is never done in France. Typically, second and further given names may be somewhat old-fashioned, given in honour of the child's grandparents etc., though such practice has now become less common. As with English, however, a person may choose to use any one (or several) of their names, relegating the unused names to the birth certificate. Although using more than one name is nowadays out of fashion, using two or even three of the given names as a compound name was fairly common until the early 20th century.

Traditionally, most people were given names from the Roman Catholic calendar of saints. Common names of this type are Jacques (James), Jean (John), Michel (Michael), Pierre (Peter), or Jean-Baptiste (John the Baptist) for males; and Marie (Mary), Jeanne (Jane), Marguerite (Margaret), Françoise (Frances), or Élisabeth (Elizabeth) for females. In certain regions such as Brittany or Corsica, more local names (usually of local saints) are often used (in Brittany, for instance, male Corentin or female Anne; in Corsica, Dominique (suitable both for males and females). However, people from immigrant communities often choose names from their own culture. Furthermore, in recent decades it has become common to use first names of foreign origin, such as Kevin, Enzo or Anthony for males; for females, Jessica, Jennifer, Karine or Sonia. Also, females were given names that are feminine to the common French names like Jacqueline and Géraldine.

The prevalence of given names follows trends, with some names being popular in some years, and some considered definitely out-of-fashion. As an example, few children born since 1970 would bear the name Germaine, which is generally associated with the idea of an elderly lady. However, as noted above, such old-fashioned names are frequently used as second or third given names (middle names).

Almost all traditional given names are gender-specific. However, a few given names, such as Dominique (see above: completely gender-neutral), Claude (traditionally masculine) and Camille (traditionally masculine, now mostly feminine), are given to both males and females; in medieval times, a woman was often named Philippe (Philippa), now an exclusively masculine name (Philip), or a male Anne (Ann), now almost exclusively feminine (except as second or third given name, mostly in Brittany). From the middle 19th-century into the early 20th-century, Marie was a popular first name for both men or women, however, before and after this period it has been almost exclusively given to women as a first given name, even if the practice still exists to give it to males as second or third given name, especially in devout catholic families.

Compound given names, such as Jean-Luc, Jean-Paul, or Anne-Sophie are not uncommon. These are not considered to be two separate given names. The second part of a compound name may be a given name normally used by the opposite sex. However, the gender of the compound is determined by the first component. Thus, Marie-George Buffet has a given name considered as female because it begins with Marie. The feminine component in male compound names is mostly Marie, as in Jean-Marie Le Pen. In the past, some Frenchmen would have Marie or Anne as first name (example: Anne du Bourg), which is still nowadays in practice in traditional Catholic families (but then the man will have other given names and one of those will be used in everyday life). Second or third given names, which usually are kept private, may also include names normally used by the opposite gender. For instance, in 2006, 81 Frenchmen have Brigitte among their given names, 97 Catherine, 133 Anne and 204 Julie. In addition to the above-described custom of using Marie for males, this is due to the habit of traditional Catholic French families to give children the names of their godmother and godfather: if there is no counterpart of the opposite gender for the name of the godparent who is not of the same sex as the child, generally the name of the godparent will be left as such. For instance, a male child born to a traditional Catholic family choosing for him the name Nicolas and whose godparents are called Christian and Véronique could be called Nicolas Christian Marie Véronique.

First names are chosen by the child's parents. There are no legal a priori constraints on the choice of names nowadays, but this has not always been the case. The choice of given names, originally limited only by the tradition of naming children after a small number of popular saints, was restricted by law at the end of the 18th century. Officially, only names figuring on a calendar, or names of illustrious Frenchmen/women of the past, could be accepted. Much later, actually in 1966, a new law permitted a limited number of mythological, regional or foreign names, substantives (Olive, Violette), diminutives, and alternative spellings. Only in 1993 were French parents given the freedom to name their child without any constraint whatsoever. However, if the birth registrar thinks that the chosen names (alone or in association with the last name) may be detrimental to the child's interests, or to the right of other families to protect their own family name, the registrar may refer the matter to the local prosecutor, who may choose to refer the matter to the local court. The court may then refuse the chosen names. Such refusals are rare and mostly concern given names that may expose the child to mockery.

To change a given name, a request can be made before a court (juge des affaires familiales), but except in a few specific cases (such as the Gallicization of a foreign name), it is necessary to prove a legitimate interest for the change (usually that the current name is a cause of mockery).