In one year, Jade babies, already number 1 of female first names given in France in 2020, have gained ground.
Just like the Gabriel newborns, who are now found in the lead in certain departments of the West and East, according to the latest ranking of first names 2021 from Insee, published on Monday.
Department by department, the national women's podium of the most given first names last year -Jade, Louise, Emma- is respected: the Jade occupy first place in 32 of the 101 French departments;
then come the Louises (the most given first name in 29 departments);
then Emma (8 departments).
In addition to maintaining their presence in the North, the Jades now take the lead in several departments in the South-West - including Landes, Gers and Haute-Garonne - and two in the South-East - Bouches-du-Rhône and the Vaucluse.
This year, Jade is also number 1 for births in Guadeloupe, Martinique and Reunion.
Among boys, the first two first names of the national top 3 -Gabriel and Léo- mainly cover France, without any real distinction between departments, except perhaps more small Léos in the southern half (number 1 in 17 departments) than in the North (8).
Raphaël, the third most given first name in France, only dominates in four departments located mainly in the north and north-west of the country, against 16 departments for Jules, yet 6th in the national ranking.
“National uniformity” and exceptions
From there to see trends according to place of birth?
“No”, believes sociologist Baptiste Coulmont, who notes “a national uniformity”.
“Before, a Parisian fashion could take twenty years before being felt in Corrèze.
This is no longer the case today”, notes the author of the book “Sociology of first names”.
As proof, the most given first names at the national level are mostly found in the top 10 of most departments.
A few local exceptions remain, however, such as the predominance of babies born Ghjulia in Corsica, Malo among boys in Finistère and Morbihan, or even Ben in Mayotte.
In addition, the most popular first name does not exceed 1 to 2% of births, recalls Baptiste Coulmont, who underlines the great diversity of French first names.
“We are only talking about the tip of the iceberg,” he notes.
There is therefore no need to look for a meaning in the fact that the Jules babies are more present in the north of the country, or that the Louises are gaining ground in several southern departments.
“The differences at the departmental level are played out at a few dozen births, it may be due to the establishment of a large hospital”, advances the sociologist.
However, some departments are less close than others to the national trend.
Baptiste Coulmont wanted to compare the top 40 first names given in France in 2021 to that of each department, in order to identify the differences.
Paris, "more bourgeois", and Seine-Saint-Denis, "where immigration has a significant weight", stand out more, indicates the sociologist.
In the capital, the first names Orso (male) and Ethel (female), although rare, are over-represented compared to the rest of France, when, in Seine-Saint-Denis, the most given first names are Mohamed, Adam then Ibrahim.
