Prénom
prénom
The French given name or first name, literally 'the name before' (the surname), formally recorded in the état civil and historically governed by strict naming laws.
In French, prénom (literally 'pre-name') designates the given name placed before the nom de famille (family name) in the full legal name. French naming convention places the surname last, as in Édith Piaf or Victor Hugo. The prénom is the name used in informal address — friends and family call one by their prénom, while professional and formal contexts may use the full name or surname with a title. France historically maintained one of Europe's strictest systems for controlling what prénoms parents could legally give their children.
Historical Restrictions
The Loi du 11 germinal an XI (the Law of 11 Germinal, Year XI — 1803 in the Gregorian calendar) restricted French parents to names drawn from the calendar of saints and figures from ancient history. This Napoleonic law gave civil registry officers (officiers de l'état civil) the power to reject names they deemed outside the approved list. The law remained in force for 190 years, shaping French given names profoundly: names like Jean, Marie, Pierre, and Catherine dominate French genealogical records from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Post-1993 Freedom
The loi du 8 janvier 1993 liberalised French naming law, abolishing the approved-list requirement and replacing it with a system where civil registry officers can refer unusual names to a family court judge only if the name appears contrary to the child's interests. Today, French prénoms reflect enormous diversity — immigration has brought names from the Maghreb, West Africa, and Southeast Asia into everyday French life, and parents enjoy far greater creative freedom than at any previous point in French history.