French statistics agency INSEE has published a list of the 20 most popular baby names across France in 2018 and the findings may come as a surprise to some.
In fact, a first glance at the girls names and you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a list of the most popular baby names in the UK.
Emma takes the crown for the girls, followed by Louise and then Jade.
Although while Emma might sound very English, it is believed to have a Germanic origin while Louise is also a very traditional name in France and is the female version of the French name Louis. And while we are at it, Jade has Spanish origins.
It's a big day for the name Emma which knocked Louise off the top of the podium after a decade of being the most popular female baby name in France.
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Photo: Le Monde and Alan Light/ Wikimedia
The 2018 rankings also revealed French parents are largely returning to tradition when it comes to naming their children.
Among the rest of the top ten for girls were the more French sounding Alice, Chloé, Léa and Manon. Lina and Mila were also in the top 10 showing how the French are in favour of simple names that end in “a”. The more latin name Rose also made the top ten.
When it comes to the boys the traditional French names Gabriel, Louis and Raphaël made up the top three on of the list.
Leo, Lucas, Jules, Adam, Arthur, Nathan and Hugo also made it into the top ten for male babies.
This year marks the tenth in a row that Gabriel have taken the top spots for babies born in Paris and the greater Paris area.
We are a far cry from 1991 when French parents turned their backs on traditional Gallic names and went absolutely mad for the name: Kevin.
That year, some 14,087 bébé Kévins came into the world in France, with the accepted explanation pointing to two Hollywood films.
Dancing with Wolves, starring Kevin Costner and Home Alone, whose main character was Kevin McCallister, played by Macauley Culkin took to the screens worldwide just one year before.
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