As we were near the Panthéon the other day, we happened to start checking out the wall inscriptions on the Saint Geneviève Library (Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève) which has recently been cleaned and has hundred of names of – presumably – highly intelligent people carved into it. And guess what? Some of them are really great! If you’re looking for something original to call your next child, this could be the inspiration you’ve been looking for…

What a lovely building. And it’s opposite another amazing building! Just two minutes from the Hôtel du Panthéon and the Hôtel des Grands Hommes, on the opposite side of the place du Panthéon, the Bibliothèque Sainte Genviève is 160 years old, but the recent clean-up job has made it sparkle. The stonework is crisp and bright, the imposing door freshly painted, and a few gold touches make the whole thing look most distinguished…
But above all, our eyes were drawn upwards. On the  façade are nineteen different stone sections each engraved with the names of thirty people, famous or forgotten, probably philosophers, scientists, writers… And on the side of the building (ans still looking a bit shabby, it has to be said) are four ‘bonus” sections! That makes 23 x 30 names, nearly 700 altogether! And that’s when a slightly strange idea came to us: Paris is the city of lurv, so why not let Paris inspire you when searching for the name of your next child? There’s plenty of choice, and some really original ideas. Look…I quite like Cornelius myself.  Hycin sounds almost floral, and Virgile is smart too! Of course, you’d have to be slightly potty to call your child Onosander or Pollion, and anyone opting for Verrius Flaccus doesn’t deserve children (!), but there’s plenty to choose from…Perse (pronounced Percy) would be my choice here. Frontin and Lucain are tempting too…Pollux was the French name for Dougal in the Magic Roundabout (mind how you say it in English)? Héliodore would be on list here and Aquila has a good ring to it.

And there are tons of more ideas as you go along the building.

If you want to check out all our photos of the names, press play on the slideshow below, then click the four little arrow bottom right to go into fullscreen mode (otherwise you’ll have a hard time making out the names!).

Good luck choosing!

And if you want to see the façade of the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève for yourself, you’ll find it here.