What is Her Name is in French?

When speaking French, it can often be beneficial to know their name. This is due to French law mandating that most individuals only have two given names: their first and their last. Women sometimes adopt their husband’s surname after marriage as their usage name (though technically this violates French law since the revolution), though this practice is rare.

Traditional given names have their source in Roman Catholicism’s calendar of saints; common male names might include: Jacques (James), Jean, Michel, Pierre or Jean-Baptiste; and Marie, Jeanne, Marguerite Francoise or Elisabeth for females. Some regions also utilize regionalized naming practices, like Corentin in Brittany or Anne in Brittany for males or vice versa; while more recently[when?], giving children foreign-sounding names mainly English is increasingly common as well.

At times, when women marry they sometimes keep their original birth name but take on their spouse’s surname as an additional “usage name”, which can often be considered scandalous by French. In certain areas with large immigrant populations it is also very common for children to take on names that reflect the ethnic background of either parent. This trend is most prominent among Muslim and Arab immigrants and names like Mohammed, Karim, Said Toufik Jorge or Fatima may become very prevalent; additionally it’s not unusual for female students or employees at work to only ever known by her first name alone despite being married!