The recent publication of the census of first names given in France in 2021 attests to the persistence of a phenomenon that is difficult not to note for anyone who is in regular contact with young children: the increasingly marked shortening of first names.
The graph above illustrates this fact well.
In particular for girls, whose first name length has considerably decreased between 1957 (7.63 letters per first name on average) and today (less than 5.4 letters).
There are several explanations here.
Let us mention the adoption, beyond the simple use in daily life, of a diminutive as the official first name (Léa, Léo, Max, Lily, Théo, etc.).
Since 2005, it has been possible for parents to combine their two surnames as the official family name of their child (thanks to the law relating to the devolution of the family name).
As a result, some were able to choose a shorter first name so as not to make the full name of their child even heavier.
Another reason is…
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