Baby names in France have never been shorter: exit Sébastien, Alexandre, Frédéric, Caroline, Nathalie, Angélique—the popular names of the 1980’s.  Emma, Léa, Clara now take the limelight as the most popular French girl names, while Lucas, Enzo and Nathan dominate the popularity list of French boy names.

　　As a result, diminutives such as Lou, Tom, Théo and Alex are doing wonders.  Few analysts would have predicted such a phenomenon in a culture which used to disdain diminutives as merely “half names".

　　Ending sounds are also shaping to a large extent what becomes trendy and what does not.  Fashionable feminine French names tend to end in the vowel ‘a’ (Emma, Sara, Léa, Clara, Lola, Éva, Louna and Lina being in the forefront).  Then there’s the explosion caused by Lilou, a new name which has led to the discovery of Louane and renewed interest in hyphenated names such as Lou–Anne.  For boys, names with ‘eo’ vowel juxtapositions abound, as in Léo, Théo, Mathéo, also o-endings (Hugo, Enzo) and names ending in ‘an’—Nathan, Ethan, Kylian, Evan, Esteban.

　　American names are still used in France, but not nearly as much as in the 1990’s.  The new wave has brought more European names than ever.  Italian names (Carla, Enzo, Matteo), Greek names (Yanis), and Spanish names (Inès, Lola) are flourishing.  Not to mention the highly fashionable Irish names (Kylian, Ryan), which have had an international success.  American parents now pick names from all over the world, but it seems unlikely to me that they will adopt real, typical names such as Océane, Manon or Malo.”

　　On her site, Stéphanie also offers her predictions for the Top 20 boys’ and girls’ names for 2010.  These are not based on instinct, but on a careful analysis of data provided by the French National Statistics Office from the past five years, from which she makes her projections.  They are:

FRENCH GIRL NAMES

　　CHLOÉ

　　SARAH

　　LÉA

　　CLARA

　　INÈS

　　JADE

　　MANON

　　MAËLYS

　　LOLA

　　CAMILLE

　　LOUNA

　　LILOU

　　LUCIE

　　LOUISE

　　ROMANE

　　ANAÏS

　　LINA

　　LOUANE

　　LILY

FRENCH BOY NAMES

　　MATHIS

　　MATHÉO

　　ENZO

　　NATHAN

　　NOAH

　　RAPHAËL

　　LOUIS

　　KYLIAN

　　ETHAN

　　HUGO

　　THÉO

　　YANIS

　　GABRIEL

　　THOMAS

　　EVAN

　　TOM

　　MAXIME

　　CLÉMENT

　　ARTHUR