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In English, my instinct is that it is more female. But in French, I have seen Camille has been used in both male and female names if I remember correctly. So is this true? Thanks!

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2 Answers

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Camille est un prénom épicène. Voir aussi une liste de tels prénoms.

Camille can be used for both. We have a word in French for words which can be used for both sexes without variation: épicène. Wikipedia has a list of such forenames

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Je suis baba d'y trouver Dorothée. – Joubarc Sep 23 '11 at 6:19
@Joubarc et Philippe? – Knu Feb 9 '12 at 17:39
J'étais surtout surpris d'apprendre que Dorothée pouvait être utilisé pour un garçon, mais je dois dire que Philippe ne me pose pas de problème. – Joubarc Feb 10 '12 at 15:47
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Used for both, like Dominique or Claude (among the most frequently used).

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Thanks! Is "Stéphane" also such an example? I thought it was a girl's name at first. – Tim Sep 22 '11 at 18:52
"Stéphanie" is for girls. I have never met a girl named Yannick. I never knew it was also intended for girls. I know a few women named Annick though. Seems it's not the same origin anyway. – subtenante Sep 22 '11 at 18:55
@subtenante: Indeed it's more biased than I tought, I removed it from the short list. Stéphane might occur for a girl here and there but I never met one in real life, as Stéphanie is commonly used. – Stéphane Gimenez Sep 22 '11 at 19:08
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For the example, the first one coming to my mind is Camille Saint-Saëns – LudoMC Sep 22 '11 at 19:11

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