French Boy Names
French boy names arrive in English-speaking countries with their formal edges softened. André becomes Andre; Étienne becomes Etienne. This list ranges from timeless kings and saints to the everyday names that define contemporary France — some you recognize, others you will.
| Save name | Name & connection | History 1926–2025, yearly counts; individually scaled | Babies 2025 · rank | 5-year rank movement | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hebrew king turned universal standard, equally at home in Lyon and New York. | 6,794#35 | Down 7 rank positions in five years | 1955 | ||
Eighteen French kings claimed this name — weight with staying power. | 5,898#48 | Down 2 rank positions in five years | 1947 | ||
A biblical prophet whose name transcends every border. | 8,085#22 | Down 8 rank positions in five years | 1985 | ||
Scandinavian origin, but French speakers have adopted it fully. | 1,256#273 | Down 75 rank positions in five years | 1970 | ||
The biblical youngest son, reborn as a favorite across the Atlantic. | 9,762#11 | Down 4 rank positions in five years | 1989 | ||
The descriptor that became a first name, strong in every era. | 3,641#96 | Down 34 rank positions in five years | 2000 | ||
The weight of a thousand years of French monarchy in three syllables. | 1,391#249 | Up 11 rank positions in five years | 1921 | ||
An archangel's name that reads equally well in Paris or Philadelphia. | 6,569#37 | Up 1 rank positions in five years | 2008 | ||
A name for well-born sons that has aged into dignity. | 249#943 | Down 103 rank positions in five years | 1927 | ||
Nineteenth-century seriousness that feels quaint now — Hemingway wore it well. | 213#1,040 | Down 31 rank positions in five years | 1921 | ||
Strong and bearded in the Germanic roots, settled early in America. | 137#1,362 | Down 112 rank positions in five years | 1924 | ||
The saint who belonged to the Lord — solid, faithful, and international. | 3,277#106 | Down 17 rank positions in five years | 2013 | ||
The lion, derived from Leonidas — fierce and timeless. | 2,583#138 | Up 58 rank positions in five years | 1924 | ||
France's answer to Andrew, everyday in Paris, exotic abroad. | 868#368 | Down 86 rank positions in five years | 1970 | ||
The gender-neutral artist's name — Monet's, and it carried weight. | 40#3,043 | Down 276 rank positions in five years | 1920 | ||
Biblical assurance: God is with us — Kant's given name. | 2,035#179 | Down 28 rank positions in five years | 2008 | ||
From the Greek for taming, it carries both gentleness and restraint. | 935#352 | Down 75 rank positions in five years | 2007 | ||
A Persian king whose name feels at home in any French city. | 322#788 | Down 196 rank positions in five years | 1994 | ||
Meaning reborn, it carried Descartes and Magritte into the modern world. | 197#1,092 | Down 107 rank positions in five years | 1970 | ||
Scott made it literary through Ivanhoe; it never quite lost the adventure. | 209#1,051 | Down 82 rank positions in five years | 1982 | ||
Van Gogh's brother and his devoted correspondent — literary, brief, modern. | 3,945#82 | Up 90 rank positions in five years | 2023 | ||
The French take on Anthony; Exupéry made it legendary. | 95#1,708 | Down 330 rank positions in five years | 1985 | ||
Proust's narrative consciousness — literary, sensory, and thoroughly French. | 364#731 | Down 45 rank positions in five years | 2022 | ||
France's Peter, the rock upon which something stands. | 159#1,253 | Down 138 rank positions in five years | 1988 | ||
A short, dark name that carries weight in Italian, French, and German contexts. | 351#740 | Down 28 rank positions in five years | 2022 | ||
Mercy woven into a name — clemency as calling — borne by popes and saints alike. | 62#2,262 | Up 328 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Italian by origin, French by adoption — a short, sunny name. | 166#1,218 | Up 4 rank positions in five years | 1992 | ||
A name the Romans gave to emperors; France kept it understated and elegant. | 180#1,159 | Down 132 rank positions in five years | 2009 | ||
Rousseau's philosophical child and Zola's realist novelist share this name. | 70#2,098 | Down 90 rank positions in five years | 1922 | ||
Four kings and Matisse — this name accumulates prestige slowly. | 95#1,714 | Down 133 rank positions in five years | 2021 | ||
The Greek conqueror reimagined through a French lens. | 67#2,148 | Down 469 rank positions in five years | 2003 | ||
The French Stephen, crowned in an accent mark that Americans drop away. | 27#3,976 | Down 27 rank positions in five years | 2006 |
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Sources & methodology
Meaning summaries use Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and referenced name histories. Each name’s detail page includes its sources.
Membership on this list is editorial — we chose names that genuinely fit the theme. Every number is from official birth data: "—" means the name had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, which makes it a genuinely rare pick today, not an invalid one. The dot marks whether the stats shown are for the girls' or boys' use of the name.