• Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Request a Name

Appellation Mountain

Where every name has a story

  • Baby Name Advice & More
  • Master List: Girl Names
  • Master List: Boy Names
  • Private Baby Name Consulting

Baby Name of the Day: Femke

April 4, 2011 By appellationmountain 17 Comments

West Frisians (Friesland and Province of Groni...

West Frisian flag; Image via Wikipedia

She’s a Top 20 pick in the Netherlands, and popular in Belgium, too.

More names you might like:

  • Phoenix: Baby Name of the DayPhoenix: Baby Name of the Day
  • Baby Name of the Day: MarlonBaby Name of the Day: Marlon
  • Names Worn by Reese WitherspoonNames Worn by Reese Witherspoon
  • Name of the Day: SilkeName of the Day: Silke
  • Baby Name Ava: Glamorous Chart-TopperBaby Name Ava: Glamorous Chart-Topper

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • Print

Comments

  1. Bewildertrix says

    April 7, 2011 at 11:16 PM

    I attempted to keep this on the list for both daughters along with Silke and Imke. Only Silke made it to the final round for both. I freaking love that name.

    Reply
  2. Daisy says

    April 5, 2011 at 4:39 AM

    I think you have not transliterated the pronunciation correctly. I would put the stress on the first syllable: FEM-keh

    Reply
    • appellationmountain says

      April 5, 2011 at 6:22 AM

      You might be right – I don’t speak Dutch. I listened to interviews with Famke Jannsen, as well as Forvo pronunciations, but there’s often a difference between native speakers and English speakers. (And there are differences in the pronunciations I heard.)

      I think most Americans would try to pronounce it like Zoe or Chloe – FEM kee.

      Reply
    • Femke says

      January 23, 2013 at 10:57 AM

      You’re right, and the ke is somewhere between keh and kuh

      Reply
  3. azul says

    April 4, 2011 at 11:32 PM

    i love seeing some more of frisian names =D. mine (helke) is a pronunciation and spelling headache, but at least i have never ever shared it!

    Reply
  4. Sarah A says

    April 4, 2011 at 11:05 PM

    Yay, I said it correctly in my head! Femke is lovely, but I think it would be difficult to pull off if you were lacking sufficient Scandinavian roots, similar to using Etienne without being a bit French. I don’t think the pronunciation issues are too much either.

    Reply
    • Femke says

      January 23, 2013 at 10:56 AM

      Femke is a Fries (Dutch) name, not Scandinavian (Denmark, Norway, Sweden)

      Reply
  5. caroline says

    April 4, 2011 at 1:36 PM

    I can deal with Famke, but there is something about Femke that looks sort of X-rated to me.

    Reply
    • Femke says

      May 11, 2015 at 11:38 AM

      well thanks XD

      Reply
  6. Julie says

    April 4, 2011 at 10:25 AM

    We use Maike and Marike as a nickname for Maria, so obviously I love the -ke names… but they feel like nicknames to me. Friederike or Filomena nicknamed Femke, would be lovely.

    (I pronounce it FEM-keh.)

    Reply
  7. liz says

    April 4, 2011 at 10:24 AM

    I was getting Janssen mixed up with Franka Potente from Run Lola Run, an actress I wish we’d see more of! I like Silke a lot — how bout that for a NotD?

    Reply
    • liz says

      April 4, 2011 at 10:25 AM

      oops — I see you already did Silke!

      Reply
  8. nicole says

    April 4, 2011 at 9:46 AM

    I actually pronounced this right in my head!! Fem – kuh. It immediately reminded me of Simone Beck ( a friend of Julia Child and co-author of her famous cookbook). Her nn is Simca although she does not spelled it Simke, but I believe the two diminutives have the similar origins.

    Reply
    • appellationmountain says

      April 5, 2011 at 6:26 AM

      That’s a good point about Simca – wonder how she got that nickname.

      Reply
  9. Lola says

    April 4, 2011 at 7:07 AM

    I’m related to a Famke! She’s 3 and lives in the Netherlands, we have a picture but have never met her. His cousin Joon’s little girl.

    Since I can say Famke properly, Femke doesn’t seem so hard to figure out!

    I have a love of Silke, unusable by me so maybe I should put Femke on the extended list? It’s neat and I really like it!

    Reply
  10. sadiesadie says

    April 4, 2011 at 6:56 AM

    I think it is cute. Kind of like naming your child an ‘ette’ name.
    I really like the name on Famke Jensson so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work on s child.
    I tend to pronounce this as fem-kee and like the spelling Famke better.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter


POPULAR POSTS

Tweets by @appmtn
Visit Appellation Mountain's profile on Pinterest.

Copyright © 2023 · AppellationMountain.net on Genesis Framework · Privacy Policy · Log in