Jade, Emma, Jules, Gabriel … These first names, the most common in France according to the last edition of the first names file published by INSEE in early February, have a bright future ahead of them. But what about Bernadette, Eric, Antoinette or Chantal? These names, which had their heyday decades ago, are rarely worn by the youngest among us. So how do you live with an old name when you’re not that old?
From birth, and without even realizing it, Bernadette, 23, faced incomprehension: “After the birth, the doctor immediately exchanged our first names with my mother: he thought that Bernadette had just given birth to Annie. It was the other way around!” It must be said that in 1994, his first name was already rare: only 24 children were named this year, against 5,093 in 1949.
Jean-Serge’s parents had to fight against the civil status agents. “They had to return three times to the town hall because on the birth certificate, each time, it was written Serge as a middle name and not Jean-Serge as a single compound first name.” This shortcut still pursues the young man today. Regularly, he must deal with CAF or Social Security, which tend to dissociate Jean from Serge, by entering a first and then a second name. An error undoubtedly linked to the fact that, since 1946, they are only between five and ten to be named thus each year.
But it was at school that the trouble really started. “Around primary school, the insults started, says Bernadette, a history student. That’s when I realized that my first name was out of the ordinary. “” You’re not one of the cool kids when you have a name like that “, analyzes the one who has often inherited the nickname “Bernadette-Chirac”. Madeleine, 22 years old, sometimes renamed “Madeleine-au -eurre”, suffered the same taunts. “I have been told a lot that I had a first name of grand-aunt or grandmother … old-fashioned!”
And intrigued or hurtful remarks are not the preserve of classmates. “My teachers tended to weigh down my first name, calling me Marie-Antoinette, says Antoinette, 22 years old. Or they confused with other old names like Henriette or Bernadette. ” In the year of her birth (1995), only 25 girls were given such a name, whereas they were nearly 2,000 in 1920, according to the INSEE file of first names.
Even today, these young adults have to face the prejudices associated with their first name.
For many people, being called Bernadette implies that I come from a classical or even traditional background, which is not the case.
Bernadette, 23 years oldto franceinfo
Eric, 19, remembers talking to a reporter on the phone: “When we met in real life, I think he didn’t expect a 19-year-old and not a 40-year-old to land.” The phrase “I didn’t imagine you like that” moreover often returns in the accounts of these young people with obsolete first names. When she entered the world of work, Chantal, 24, even feared that her candidacy would be rejected by recruiters: “I was afraid that would play tricks on me.” For the moment, no employer has ever made the slightest remark to him on this subject.
What to blame his parents? “When I was younger, I was angry with them for choosing a name that did not match my generation”, remembers Antoinette. She even considered taking another first name, so much so that, when she was 7 years old, her parents took her to the town hall to inquire about the procedure. “There, I was told that in general, we exchanged with the middle name. Marguerite in my case. Clearly, we might as well keep the first!” she laughs. For Chantal, the desire came later, towards the end of college. But she quickly gave up. “It would hurt me too much because it is an inheritance, a question of filiation. This first name, it is part of me and I would have the impression of denying myself.”
Especially since, often, these young people were not named thus by chance. On the contrary, their first name is part of a family history. “I don’t think we immediately realize how important it is to parents. But today, I know it meant a lot to them”, confides Bernadette, named in memory of her aunt. And to add, philosopher: “Either get rid of it or make it a force. After all, it’s part of you.”
Antoinette’s parents have always been keen to make their choice.
When I asked them to justify themselves, my parents always told me: ‘you will see, one day you will thank us’. Today I can tell them they were right.
For her part, Chantal never held it against her parents, having realized very early on that it was a tribute to her grandmother. “And then, through me, they too suffered from the mockery of other children. It pissed them off as much as I did. I don’t think they imagined I would try so many remarks.”, says the young woman.
Because with age, having a first name considered outdated can finally have its advantages. In any case, originality pays off. “There is a ‘remarkable’ side to an old name. It is a differentiating factor, therefore an asset”, says Antoinette.
When you’re younger, you want to fit in, and a name like that doesn’t help. And then as we grow up, on the contrary, we no longer want to go unnoticed and the first name becomes a strength.
Antoinette, 22 years oldto franceinfo
Chantal even says that her first name helped her build: “It hardened me: I learned to respond intelligently to mockery, to take a distance and to be second-degree.” Faced with taunts, Eric has also learned to anticipate. “When there are valves to be done on this, I am the one who takes them out first.” Pragmatic, Jean-Serge benefits from it on a daily basis. Employee in IT, he often has to use pseudonyms. “For sure, Jean-Serge is always available, unlike almost all first names!”
So, ready to imitate their parents for their future children? “If I can save him ten years of mockery because of a name, I will”, answers Bernadette. Original, yes, but not too much.