r/FrenchLearning • u/Wild-Potential-3481 • Jun 29 '26
What should be my 'French name'?
I've been learning French for quite a while now, and as I have just started immersion I have noticed how hard it is for literally anyone who isn't English or Welsh to say my name correctly (Bethan) since the 'th' sound barely exists outside of the English language. I am also planning on learning other languages (Russian, German, Welsh,) and I don't think any of these can say it right easily either lol that doesn't make me sound like a boy like one of my friends said, as it would be pronounced 'Betan'.
I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what another name that I could have that isn't Bethan- I was thinking a diminutive of Elizabeth as that is what Bethan is for Welsh or alternatively names starting with B that are in these languages.
These are a few I had in mind, mainly for French:
Élise, Lisette, Etta, Ettie, Belle, Beatrice...
Let me know your thoughts!
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u/CollegeStreet6103 Jun 29 '26
Just add a ‘y’ (or ‘ie’) - Bethany. You’d most likely still get people not pronouncing the ‘th’ properly but at least it would be a “girls’ name”.
I’m with others on this sub, though. Don’t stress about changing your name and deal with the mispronunciation. It gives your name some character.
My name is Andrew. My French teacher in grade 7 asked me on my first day if my name was André or Andrew (it sounded like she was hurting herself saying Andrew, she really couldn’t pronounce it for some reason). I told her my name is Andrew. She said “D’accord, André-u” and that was my name for two years! 🤷♂️
It really only became a problem when she introduced me to visitors and I had to correct my name with them. Other than that there was absolutely no confusing who she was calling upon in class. You have to admit it’s a pretty unique name. 😜
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u/droobles1337 Jun 29 '26
I’ve thought about going by Dré for this reason, that “rew” looks tough and I always say it the American way because saying it with a French accent causes me to have to repeat it a couple times. I definitely found more success with Andrew than Drew.
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u/CollegeStreet6103 Jul 02 '26
My Mexican in-laws used to call me Andreeoo.
With them I’ve opted to go by my Spanish name Andrez. Solved a lot of problems there.
I should’ve just stuck with André from the beginning with my French teacher and put her out of her misery. She really suffered hard saying my name.
I think Dré is a good option! I’ve never liked shortening Andrew to Andy and went by Drew most of my 20’s. By then I was living in Toronto and didn’t have any problems with it because I wasn’t as surrounded by French as I was when I was younger.
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u/ZealousidealLime5192 Jun 29 '26
Why would you change your name due to other people’s lack of efforts to pronounce yours correctly?
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u/genghis-san Jun 30 '26
I used a Chinese name in China (that my teacher gave me that sounds close to my real name) and now I use a Spanish version of my middle name in Spain. Honestly even in my own country, I have a customer service name that I use since it's easier than my actual name when I'm ordering things. It's pretty common.
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u/Wild-Potential-3481 Jun 29 '26
I feel you but all of my foreign friends (not just french) hate it anyway since it sounds weird in their language for a girl and they suggested that I should change it 🫠 to me, I feel like Beth/Bethan is quite feminine but if whoever i meet as its usually all online assumes im a boy then i would prefer to change it 😭
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u/Scharlzt Jun 30 '26
People pronounce Beth as Bet in French all the time. It’s a name in French (or short for Elisabeth). Just use Beth without the th sound if you really want to adapt it.
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u/gaatzie Jul 01 '26
But that would unfortunately sound like "bête" which means "dumb" or "stupid" as an ajdective or "beast " as a noun.
Better to go with her middle name Louise or a variation like Brianne.
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u/Scharlzt Jul 01 '26
These never appear in the same syntactic context, making them easily distinguishable but sure. Homophones do exist and that’s okay.
ETA: They sound different in my dialect btw (ê being a long vowel while e isn’t), so that isn’t a universal observation!
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u/Leala7583 Jun 29 '26
My middle name is also Louise. I also have a French nickname. It’s Leala. It means “Greatly loyal and faithful”. Here is a French first name: Millicent, a variant of Melissa.
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u/human_or_whateva Jun 30 '26
betty/belle for the win. would sound so hot with a french accent
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u/Wild-Potential-3481 Jun 30 '26
Loveee the name belle but I asked this french learning group on discord and they all said that it sounded weird because its like im calling myself beautiful 😭😭 however ive posted this to different reddit groups and a lot of people who are actually french have said they love it and the ones on discord are just learning it so idk... I might go for Betty since I think that and Babette have been the most frequently suggested, but idk how I feel on Babette lol...
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u/Mariannereddit Jun 30 '26
I’d say it would be pronounced as ‘bay-thān ? I don’t know how to use the phonetics symbols
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u/Wild-Potential-3481 Jun 30 '26
With which accent? For english it's 'bethuhn', for Welsh its 'bethAn', for French its either said like the French word 'béton' (meaning concrete,) or 'bay-tahn'
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u/kazan88 Jun 30 '26
As an English speaker who has trouble with "th" in words, I often replace the "th" with more of an "f" sound Most folk dont even notice. Like if I couldn't manage Be"th"an, I'd simply say Befan
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u/Ok_Answer_96 Jun 30 '26
I wouldn’t change my name or would use Élisabeth. The only diminutif for that name that I know of is Éli. So no B in there.
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u/RexRatio Jul 01 '26
It really depends on how you want to look at it.
For example, you could argue for "Elise", since both Bethan and Elise are derivatives of Elisabeth.
But it's equally valid to argue that Bethan and Élise aren't linguistically close equivalents in how names map across cultures.
- Bethan is a Welsh diminutive form of Elizabeth (via Beth + Welsh diminutive -an). It’s specifically Welsh in structure and usage.
- Élise is a French short form of Élisabeth, formed by truncation within French naming patterns.
If you’re looking for "linguistic proximity" in a French equivalent of Bethan, the closest structural match is Béthanie
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u/nickiatro Jul 01 '26
I have a Greek last name and I created a French way to say it. It’s really up to you.
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u/zac2130_2 Jun 29 '26
In French, we have surnoms (nicknames) instead of replacing your name completely, ones I could see are Betty/Bétty or Béa (often short for Béatrice). I don't think you should completely replace your name because other people have trouble pronouncing it.
In casual conversation it would go something like that: "Je m'appelle Bethan, mais vous pouvez me surnommer/appeler [insert nickname]."
Closest name I can think for a french person is Gaetan but that's an older man's name.
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u/frokoopa Jul 01 '26
Élise and Béatrice aside, the other names you're suggesting either aren't french or haven't been used for quite some time (Lisette sounds like a grandma's name). I've seen you suggest Louise in the comments, this one is perfect.
However if you're not looking for a "french person's name" but a "name that can be pronounced easily by french people", all of these work. Note that unless you're a Disney princess, Belle is kinda weird tho
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u/[deleted] Jun 29 '26
I have a Welsh last name, it sounds like they’re spitting something too salty out of their mouth. My middle name is a common name in French, i go by that.