According to INSEE, around twenty formerly essential female first names are experiencing a sharp decline in maternity wards. Deciphering a generational change.
If certain classic first names have survived the centuries without aging, like the timeless Emma, Louise or Alice who still remain in the Top 10, others have a much more ephemeral destiny. Fashions come and go, sometimes propelling a style of first names to the top for a decade or two before pushing them into oblivion, victims of a weariness effect well known to sociologists.
In the playgrounds, each generation thus has its own identity. For children born during the 90s and 2000s, a few very specific female names resonated absolutely everywhere, carried by an immense wave of popularity. However, the glory days of these old essential references in birth registers are well and truly over. Although they continue to be chosen by some parents, these first names have started a steady decline in recent years. Using INSEE data, we have established the ranking of the 20 girls’ first names according to their percentage of change between 2019 and 2024, based on all those who have exceeded the symbolic milestone of 100 births in 2024.
The verdict is clear, and it is the first name Manon which records the greatest decrease. Once omnipresent, it has suffered a historic decline of 73%, collapsing from 1,943 births in 2019 to only 520 in 2024. Little Milas are also less and less numerous: the first name has lost 66% of its attributions, going from 2,685 to 910 births. Same fate for Lilou, with a fall of 62% and only 320 babies born in 2024. Even the pillars of maternity wards of the 2000s like Inès (with -61%, or barely 1,080 births compared to 2,773 five years earlier) and Anaïs (with -58%, falling to 430 births) are seeing their curves collapse.
Same observation for first names that end in “a”, which we believed to be eternal and some of which are still very trendy in France. Besides Mila, other first names like Léana, Sarah, Clara, or even Louna, have seen their popularity halved in record time, even if they are still given by many parents. The fall is a little less brutal, but just as present for Alicia, Elsa, Elisa, Mélina and Célia, who almost seem to be disappearing. On the other hand, if they remain above the symbolic bar of 1,000 births, two emblems of Gen Z are declining considerably: Chloé and Léa, who have recorded a 52 and 51% decline respectively since 2019. It is also soon the end of Océane, Mathilde or Clémence in the playgrounds.
This massive decline marks the end of a cycle and leaves the way open for entirely new trends. As these old giants fade from French maternity wards, new first names that were until then very rare or completely confidential are beginning to settle down permanently in the hearts of future parents. Outsiders who are preparing to shake up the rankings of the decade and invade classrooms tomorrow.
