Marilyn or Marilene in French

Once, in France, the law was such that one could name a child only after a saint.

Now, that this law is no longer applicable couples tend to give their offspring trendy names. Among these is Lily-Rose : yes, after the daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis.

There are also now a fair share of girls named Evita (yes, since the movie and musical ‘Evita’) and a few named Diana (yes, after Princess Diana). I even know a Zizi after the singer, dancer and cabaret artist, Zizi Jeanmaire.This is a name that provokes quite a few giggles because zizi is the slang for the male sexual organ.

Each year the most popular names of the previous year is given by the publication L’Officiel des prénoms and this time of the year they also predict the coming year’s favorites.

Between 2001 and 2010, the favorite top 20 were:

Boys: Lucas, Enzo, Théo, Thomas,  Hugo, Nathan, Mathis, Maxime,  Louis, Clément,Tom, Léo, Antoine, Alexandre, Alexis, Arthur, Quentin, Paul, Raphael and Matheo.

Girls: Léa, Emma, Manon, Chloé, Camille, Clara, Inès, Sarah, Jade, Océane, Marie, Anaïs, Lucie, Lola, Eva, Julie, Mathilde, Louise, Laura and Zoè.

L’Official des prénoms’s prediction for 2013 is :

Boys : Nathan, Lucas, Léo, Enzo, Louis, Gabriel, Jules, Timés, Hugo, Arthur, Ethan, Raphaël, Maël, Tom, Noah, Mathis, Théo, Adam, Nolan and Clément.

Girls: Emma, Lola, Chloé, Inès, Léa, Jade, Manon, Louise, Zoé, Lilou, Léna, Sarah, Camille, Maëlys, Lina, Éva, Louna, Clara, Alice and Romane.

The name Emma comes from either Emma Peel of The Avengers or Emma Bovary.

You will notice that Noah is going to make an entrance: well, it is probably being on the safe side as it does rain quite a lot these days …