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French names that start with the letter 'C'

French names that start with the letter ‘C’ don't all begin with the same sound. In French, the letter 'C' is pronounced in different ways, depending on the letter that follows it.

French names like Camille, Claude, and Clémence have a hard 'C' sound, similar to the letter 'K'. In contrast, names like Céline, Cécile, and Célestine have a soft 'C' sound that resembles an 'S'.

In addition, names like Charlène and Chantal start with the whisper-like “sh” sound that is produced by the letter combination 'ch' in French.

French girl names that start with 'C'

French girl names that start with the letter 'C' can be classified into several groups. The first group consists of those where the 'C' has a soft sound, resembling the letter 'S'.

In French, the letter combination ‘ch’ can produce a sound resembling the ‘sh’ sound in English. So among French girl names that start with ‘C’, there are some which begin with a whispering “shh..” sound.

Another group of French girl names that start with the letter 'C' is those where the 'C' has a hard sound, resembling the letter 'K'.

In French, many names begin with the letter ‘C’ because the letter ‘K’ is rarely used in French. In fact, none of the thousand most common French words contain the letter ‘K’. As a result, names that begin with ‘K’ in some Germanic languages have French equivalents that start with ‘C’.

French boy’s names that start with 'C'

French first names that begin with ‘C’ among historical figures and public personalities

Name Occupation
Charles de Gaulle French military leader and former President
Claude Monet French Impressionist painter who is perhaps best known for his series of paintings depicting water lilies.
Christian Dior French fashion designer who founded Dior (the French fashion company)
Catherine Deneuve French actress
Charles Aznavour French-Armenian singer
Claude Lévi-Strauss French anthropologist and ethnologist
Camille Saint-Saëns French composer
Charles Perrault 17th-century French author who wrote fairy tales
Claude Chabrol French film director
Clément Ader French aviation pioneer
Charles Trenet French singer and songwriter
Claudine Monteil French writer
Claude François French singer and songwriter
Christian Louboutin French fashion designer known for his red-soled shoes
Cédric Klapisch French film director who made the movie “L' Auberge Espagnole”
Cédric Villani French mathematician who won the Fields Medal
Claude Debussy French composer

French last names that start with 'C'

If you ask a French person about last names starting with the letter ‘C’, they may mention Louis-Ferdinand Céline, the controversial author of the novel “Journey to the End of the Night”. But Céline is just his pen name; his real name is Louis Ferdinand Destouches.

Here is a list of common French surnames that begin with the letter ‘C’: