Eighteen kings of France were named Louis. Ten were named Charles. Meanwhile, Dagobert was used only once and never came back. Some royal names travel through fifteen centuries without a wrinkle, while others die with their dynasty, and chance has nothing to do with it. Here are 45 names of kings and queens, and what explains why some are still worn today and others are not.
Merovingian names, dead and then resurrected
The first Frankish kings bore rugged Germanic names that fell out of use for more than a thousand years. Several of them, however, have reappeared in French maternity wards in recent years.
| Name | The sovereign | Today |
|---|---|---|
| Clovis | First king of the unified Franks, baptized around 496 | Truly back, worn without difficulty |
| Clotaire | Son of Clovis, several kings of the name | Clearly on the rise in recent years |
| Thierry | Merovingian king, from the Germanic for "mighty people" | Very common in the 20th century, dated today |
| Dagobert | The king of the song, in reality a considerable sovereign | Unwearable, the song swept everything away |
| Childéric | Father of Clovis | Never came back |
| Pépin | Father of Charlemagne | Has become impossible in French |
The case of Dagobert is the most unfair in the history of names. This 7th-century king was one of the most powerful of his dynasty, but an 18th-century nursery rhyme about trousers worn inside out was enough to make his name unusable forever.
The great Capetian names
With the Capetians came a phenomenon that explains everything: dynastic repetition. A king gives his son his own father's name, and the same name returns from generation to generation for eight hundred years.
- Louis: eighteen kings. From Louis the Pious to Louis XVIII, by way of Saint Louis and the Sun King. It is the absolute royal name, and it has never stopped being used.
- Charles: ten kings, from Charlemagne to Charles X.
- Philippe: six kings, including Philippe Auguste and Philippe le Bel.
- Henri: four kings, including Henri IV, the most popular of them all.
- François: only two kings, but François I was enough to establish the name.
- Hugues: just one, Hugues Capet, founder of the dynasty.
- Robert, Eudes, Raoul, Lothaire: the lesser-known kings of the early Middle Ages.
Louis is today one of the most popular names in France. It is a remarkable achievement: twelve hundred years of continuous use, without ever seeming either old or pretentious.
Queens' names
They benefited less from dynastic repetition, since queens came from foreign families, which introduced greater variety.
| Name | The sovereign |
|---|---|
| Aliénor | Aliénor of Aquitaine, queen of France and then of England |
| Blanche | Blanche of Castile, mother of Saint Louis, a formidable regent |
| Anne | Anne of Brittany, twice queen of France |
| Marguerite | Several queens, including Marguerite de Valois |
| Catherine | Catherine de Médicis, regent for thirty years |
| Isabelle | Queens of France, Castile and England |
| Mathilde | Queen of England, wife of William the Conqueror |
| Constance | Queen of France in the 11th century |
| Adélaïde | Wife of Hugues Capet |
| Berthe | Mother of Charlemagne, "Berthe Bigfoot" |
Aliénor is the great comeback of the past twenty years. The name had disappeared for centuries before returning in force, carried by the reputation of a woman who was queen of two kingdoms and mother of two kings.
The neighboring crowns
- Arthur: the legendary king of Britain, today one of the most popular names in France.
- Édouard: eight kings of England.
- Guillaume: the Conqueror, king of England in 1066.
- Alexandre: the Great, and several kings of Scotland.
- Alphonse: very numerous in the Spanish kingdoms.
- Constantin: emperors of Byzantium.
- Casimir: kings of Poland.
- Olaf, Harald, Éric: the Scandinavian crowns.
- Baudouin: kings of Jerusalem, then of Belgium.
Why some make it and others don't
Three mechanisms explain the very uneven fate of these names.
- French sound. Louis, Charles, Anne and Blanche sound like ordinary names. Childéric and Chilpéric carry a Germanic roughness that French has stopped tolerating.
- Cultural accident. A song killed Dagobert. A fictional character can do the same in a single generation.
- Historical distance. A name too closely tied to one particular figure stays off-limits while the memory is vivid, then becomes usable again once it has faded. That is what allowed the return of Clovis and Aliénor.
The ones that wear best today
Louis, Arthur, Charles, Anne, Blanche, Aliénor, Clovis, Alexandre and Guillaume are commonly heard in French schoolyards, without anyone seeing any dynastic pretension in them.
The ones that no longer work
Dagobert, Childéric, Chilpéric, Pépin, Lothaire and Eudes are unusable today, for reasons of sound or association of ideas. They remain superb to read in a history book.
For old French names in general, beyond the crowns, see our selection of old French names for boys. And for the kingdoms of the North, our Viking names.
Frequently asked questions
Which name was borne most often by the kings of France?
Louis, with eighteen sovereigns, from Louis the Pious to Louis XVIII. Charles follows with ten kings, then Philippe with six and Henri with four.
Is Clovis a name you can give today?
Yes, and it has clearly come back in recent years. The name of the first king of the unified Franks is worn without difficulty, unlike Childéric or Dagobert, which remain unusable.
Why is Dagobert no longer given?
Because of an 18th-century nursery rhyme about trousers put on inside out. King Dagobert I was nevertheless one of the most powerful Merovingian sovereigns, but the song has definitively swept his name away.
Which queens' names are coming back into fashion?
Aliénor above all, in reference to Aliénor of Aquitaine, as well as Blanche and Adélaïde. Anne, Marguerite and Catherine never really fell out of use.
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