Nigel

[niemeyjt]

It is often said parents name their offspring after things they admire.

But it seems the name Nigel is now out of fashion - with no birth registrations last year in England and Wales:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... -2020.html

I can't understand it - I thought Monty's Retriever was adorable.

[Sparkle]

So is my OH adorable that is - well most of the time when I don't want to strangle him Fortunately his middle name is much better (unless shortened!) and over here the pronunciation for Nigel is very funny but we've got used to it and it becomes spanish with an elderly french neighbour ie Bonjour Miguel

[Spardo]

I always refer to myself in France as Daveed. All French people understand it as David and have no problems with the spelling. I sometimes forget and use it to English speakers too.

[MAD87]

Sparkle & Spardo
I have no problem as my forenames are French.

[Spardo]

Bonjour Miguel

Strange that a French person should do that, in referring to French I have a little rhyme for myself to remind me:
'I' and 'E' soften the 'G'. (Works with 'Y' as well I believe too). Thus the 'G' in Angouleme is hard but in Limoges is soft.

So I would have thought that a Francophone would naturally pronounce Nigel as Neegel with a soft 'G' not with a hard one as in Miguel. Not surprised that they misunderstand the 'N' though, if reading it, have you noticed the funny way they write a capital 'M'?

[mention]MAD87[/mention] My wife's name is Frances and is always here pronounced like the country. No problem.

Funny thing is though, in England many people do not understand the difference between Frances and Francis, as a result she once got a very nice private room in hospital because, before she arrived, they didn't know if she was a man or a woman.

[Hotrodder]

It is often said parents name their offspring after things they admire.

But it seems the name Nigel is now out of fashion - with no birth registrations last year in England and Wales:

I can't understand it - I thought Monty's Retriever was adorable.

Does that mean people have gone off Nigella? She still rates a 10 in my book.

[Sparkle]

Spardo - the neighbour is in his 90s so guess his hearing is not so good and no way would we correct him - it's fun anyway always makes us laugh

[Sparkle]

A while back we had some french friends round for dinner and we were talking about forenames. Philippe was horrified that in the UK we had female versions ie Phillipa, Louisa, Stephanie, Nigella etc we had to show him my Nigella cookbook before he'd believe it

[Blaze]

A while back we had some french friends round for dinner and we were talking about forenames. Philippe was horrified that in the UK we had female versions ie Phillipa, Louisa, Stephanie, Nigella etc we had to show him my Nigella cookbook before he'd believe it

I find that funny Sparkle, because the French simply use the same name as male or female, like Dominique. Then there are feminising of names like Michel, Pascal, Martin, Raymond, or adding an "ette" as Henriette, Pierrette.

In Scotland names were feminised by adding an "a" : Davida, Andrea/Andrina, Williamina, Robina, Alexandrina etc (I have several in my family tree !)

[ExMontpelliérain]

My (French) name story was the result of a Russian friend visiting my lab. I introduced her to my co-workers, including a French post-doc named Minette, at which point my Russian friend looked quite startled. Later she whispered to me "is her name really Minette?" and on assuring her that it was & why had that alarmed her she told me that to "do Minet", prounounced the French way, was Russian slang for fellatio!