






French Pronunciation + French Names

AU: The vowel combination “AU” is pronounced like a long o.

  • Paul, in French, is pronounced pohl.

CH: The letter combination “CH” is typically pronounced sh.

  • Charles, in French, is pronounced shahrl.

D, P, S, T, X, Z: The six consonants “D,” “P,” “S,” “T,” “X” and “Z,” when at the end of a word, are typically silent.

  • Lucas, in French, is pronounced loo-kah.

…They’re not always silent, though. Here are some exceptions:

  • David, in French, is pronounced dah-veed.


  • Joël and Joëlle are pronounced zhoh-el.
  • Noël and Noëlle are pronounced noh-el.




  • Guy, in French, is pronounced ghee.

H: The consonant “H” is silent.


I: The vowel “I,” and the forms Ï, and Î, are all pronounced ee.


J: The consonant “J” is pronounced zh.


LL: The letter combination “LL” is typically pronounced like an l.


…But in some cases “LL” is pronounced like a y.


OI: The vowel combination “OI” is pronounced wah.


OU: The vowel combination “OU” is pronounced oo.

  • Lilou is pronounced lee-loo.

R: The consonant “R,” when at the end of a word, is typically pronounced.

  • Edgar, in French, is pronounced ed-gahr.





TI: The letter combination “TI” is sometimes pronounced like an s or sy.

  • Laëtitia is pronounced lay-tee-sya.

W: The consonant “W” is pronounced like a v.



  • Anatole is pronounced ah-nah-tohl.


Those aren’t too hard, right?






5 thoughts on “How to Pronounce French Names – Anaïs, Étienne, Guillaume, Hélène

  1. Great post Nancy! I don’t speak French but art history classes taught me to pronounce it somewhat. Here are some I’ve had to look up the pronunciation for in the past: Adélaïde, Thierry, Berthe, Mireille.

  2. My French is primarily high school based, but I was very serious about it at the time. Most of this seems right, but I think you’re somewhat understating the importance of the “ay” sound. “É” is consistently pronounced as “ay” –thus Étienne is not eh-tyen but ay-teeyehn (with the ay rising to the tee and the tee syllable sort of falling off a cliff and colliding with the eh so that it mostly sounds like a “y” but sort of a two-part “y”) and Hélène is not eh-lehn but ay-lehn.

    Also, the “r” at the end of of a name like Olivier is not so much silent as a modifier of the “e”–the er combination at the end of a word is always pronounced “ay” whereas an “e” without the “r” acts differently.

    Becca, while I can make educated guesses at your list of names, Mireille is the only one I’ve heard actual French people say often enough to feel entirely confident of and I’m having trouble describing it. The “r” is actually rolled a little bit, so it’s almost as if there’s a tiny little pause right in the middle of the letter when the word sort of changes directions. I think probably the best way to think of it in English is to take the first syllable of “Mirror” and change the ending to a rather long drawn out “ray”–“Mirray” or even “Miraaeaay.”

  3. Here are two more — the French equivalents of Benedict and Benedicta:

    • Benoît (masc), roughly ben-wah
    • Benoîte (fem), roughly ben-waht

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