Appendix:French diminutives of given names
- Catherine → Cathy
- Christelle → Chris
- Christophe → Chris
- Frédéric → Fred
- Grégory → Greg
- Jean-Michel → Jean-Mi
- Philippe → Phil
- Stéphane → Steph
- Stéphanie → Steph
Dropping the first syllable is also attested:
- Christophe → Tophe
Sometimes, only central syllables are kept:
- Augustin → Gus
- Emmanuel → Manu
- Emmanuelle → Manu
Another method commonly used is doubling one syllable of the name:
- André → Dédé
- Annie → Nini
- Augustin → Tintin
- Christophe → Totophe
- Joseph → Jojo
- Julie → Juju
- Louis → Loulou
- all female names ending in -tine → Titine
For male names, the ending -ot is attested, although its use is rather dated:
- Charles → Charlot
- Jean → Jeannot
- Jules → Julot
- Pierre → Pierrot
It was also sometimes (but rarely) used for females:
- Marguerite → Margot
The ending -et for males was used around the Renaissance, and is now obsolete:
- Henri → Henriquet
- Jacques → Jacquet
For female names, the ending -ette was used in the first half of the 20th century, and even often given as the official name:
- Anne → Annette
- Jeanne → Jeannette
- Marie → Mariette
- Paule → Paulette
Some names in -ette are not actual hypocorisms, but the only existing femalized form of a male name:
- Antoine (male) → Antoinette (female)
- Pierre (male) → Pierrette (female)
The ending -on is rarer, often dated or obsolete, used for both genders:
- Antoinette → Toinon
- Henri → Riton
- Marie → Marion
- Louis → Louison
- Louise → Louison
The ending -ou is also rare:
- Anne → Nanou
A special case is the ending in -ick/ -ic, which is a hypocoristic form typical from Brittany, used for both genders, and that became in vogue for official names in the second half of the 20th century:
- Anne → Annick
- Françoise → Soizic
- Louis → Loïc
- Yann → Yannick
The connotation of familiarity (my friend Jean-Phi, as opposed to my new work colleague Jean-Philippe;