These names for girls and boys will disappear if no parent saves them from oblivion

Like clothing or design, first names also follow fashion. And if every year, future parents impatiently wait to discover new trends, certain first names are the least popular. It even happens that they disappear purely and simply civil status registers.

Each year, the release of the new edition of the Official First Names last September has had its effect. It must be said that for almost 20 years, its authors, Claire Tabarly-Perrin and Stéphanie Rapoport have been revealing the most fashionable first names. But among the 12,000 first namesthere are also some who live their last hours and no longer have the favor of the French.

These names for girls and boys are on the verge of disappearing

Sometimes judged cornythese are often first names considered to be out of fashion which have had their hour of glory. The magazine aufeminin rightly listed 15 first names “endangered” which should not be all the rage in 2025 in French maternity wards. And among these, there are necessarily rarities which you may have never heard of.

As for girls, it is possible to cite: AmarantheAnathilde, Anatoline, Aventine, Cléonice, Cléore, Eudora, LéonelleRosine and Théophanie. Some are derived from more popular first names like Amantine who is very close to Amandine. Others are older and clearly out of fashion like Emiliette, Marcelline or Mariette.

First names that are sometimes real “rarities”

There are also first names that have never really caught on and whose disappearance should not move many people. This is the case ofEudora For example. It was only given to three little girls in all since 1900. Suffice it to say that you have little chance of coming across one any time soon. Of Greek origin, it is a contraction of the words “eu” which means “good or wealth” and “doron” which can be translated as “gift or donation”. The translation therefore gives something like “priceless gift” and is perfect for a birth.

Cleonice is a little more popular. Indeed, there have been around twenty births since 1900. But the last ones date from 2016 and it is unlikely to see it top the rankings in the years to come. Here too, it is possible to find a Greek root with the words “cléos” for “glory” and “nikê” for “victory”.

However, some first names were very popular several decades ago.

Names for boys are not to be outdone, but we nevertheless find there the choice of many parents several decades ago. This is how once popular first names like ArmandClovis, Donations, FelicienFirmin or Marcelin are disappearing. Others pay the consequences of having been associated with a famous character who made the heyday of television.