"
My eight year old son asked me if the first name Pierre really existed or if it was only in the books
."
Naima Amadou, mother of a family and resident of the Mosson district, north-west of Montpellier, challenged Emmanuel Macron during his trip to the capital of Hérault (34).
What does this question reflect in the mouth of this eight-year-old boy?
“
A lack of diversity,
” said his mother, also a member of the neighborhood committee.
In this district of Montpellier, the Pierre would have become very rare.
To read also: "My son asked me if the first name Pierre existed": a mother calls out to Emmanuel Macron
Léo, Raphaël, Gabriel, Amir and Mohamed
Impossible to know the names most given to the civil status in this area of Montpellier. Insee data are departmental. We nevertheless obtained those for the whole of the city of Montpellier. In this city of Hérault, the first name most often given in 2019 is Léo, followed closely by Gabriel, Raphaël, Adam and Hugo. Tastes that have changed little in ten years, even if some first names like Lucas, Louis, Clément and Nathan are gradually disappearing to make way for Amir, Mohamed, Maël and Noah. A trend that can be found across the department where 12,488 babies were born that same year. Among them, 92 responding to the name of Léo, the most common first name in the territory. Then come Raphaël, Gabriel, Arthur, Jules, Adam, Lucas, Amir and Mohamed.
What about at the national level?
Léo, Gabriel and Raphaël also won first place on the podium followed by Adam, Louis, Hugo, Jules and Maël.
Map of the most frequently used names in 2019 in the French regions Insee
But there are also local disparities. For example, in Finistère (29), Maël and Malo arrive in the top 10, after the indestructible Léo, Gabriel, Hugo and Arthur. In the Pyrénées-Atlantiques (64), Basque inspiration is blowing on the maternity hospitals which saw the birth of Sacha, Oihan, Eneko and Pablo. Finally, the last example, in Seine-Saint-Denis (93), Mohamed, Adam, Ibrahim and Amir are chasing the classics.
"It is quite revealing of the situation of certain districts and whole communes where the populations of foreign origin are very majority",
explains the demographer Michèle Tribalat. For the author of the book
Assimilation: the end of the French model
, “
the data clearly show a dramatic increase in the percentage of young people of foreign origin (ie with at least one immigrant parent) in urban areas
”.
A percentage evaluated at 18% by Jérôme Fourquet, director of the Opinion department at Ifop and author of
L'Archipel français
.
To read also: Michèle Tribalat: "When the ethnic mix disappears, waking up too late condemns to lament"
Far in the rankings of the favorite first names of today's parents, Pierre, who remains the second most popular male first name in France after Jean, is he endangered?
Pierre, today's unloved
For Naima's son, Pierre refers to the first name of a children's book hero.
In fact, it is becoming increasingly rare in the Hérault.
Only eight babies with this first name were born there in 2019.
At the national level, there are 465, out of a total of 364,924 male births, or 0.1% of first names.
In 30 years, the number of newborns named Pierre has been divided by 9, unlike Leo who has been multiplied by 7, or Mohamed who has been multiplied by 3.
Number of children bearing the name of Pierre since 1900 Insee
Number of children bearing the name Léo since 1900 Insee
Number of children bearing the name Mohamed since 1900 Insee
For the sociologist Baptiste Coulmont, lecturer at Paris-VIII and author of
Sociologie des prénoms
, published by
La Découverte
in 2014, “
it's not surprising
”.
“Today, parents choose more a name they like, with nice sounds, rather than a name that reflects family history.
Even if by tradition boys are more holders of family, ethnic or identity continuity.
"
Today, parents choose a first name they like rather than a first name that reflects family history.
Even if by tradition boys are more holders of family, ethnic or identity continuity.
Baptiste Coulmont, lecturer at Paris-VIII and author of Sociologie des prénoms.
Pierre is not an isolated case.
Marie and Jean, favorite names during the fifteen years following the Second World War, have become rarer in class photos.
First names of Catholic origin
"gave up a lot of ground,
adds Jérôme Fourquet,
after an intermediate phase, in the years 1940-1950, which saw a certain craze for first names composed with Mary"
.
In 2019, 749 little girls were given the first name Marie against 52,149 in 1901.
Number of children bearing the name of Marie since 1900 Insee
No more classic first names, room for originality.
Since 1993, parents are also free to choose the spelling of the first name of their offspring.
This is how the Ema, Hema, Hemma or even Emah appeared.
First names with multiple spellings
“Choosing what your child is going to be called means giving him his identity,”
explains Baptiste Coulmont.
Parents therefore want a first name that will not be worn too much, even if it means drawing inspiration from elsewhere or changing slight spelling modifications. ”
This is why, if Léo, Gabriel and Jules seem insensitive to the erosion of time, others are experiencing spectacular breakthroughs like Tiago, Ayden and Owen.
“An extraordinary diversification,
according to Jérôme Fourquet,
which can be analyzed as a symptom of the rise in power of individualism and of the very keen desire for distinction that exists in French society”.
A plurality with the consequence that the most given first names are in reality little worn. Despite his status as the first given name in France in 2019, there are only 4,989 Gabriel newborns, or 1.4% of male births. By way of comparison, that same year, 4652 Léo, 3000 Mohamed, 2697 Tiago were born.