• 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
  • Gray: Baby Name of the DayGray: Baby Name of the Day

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

Trackbacks

  1. Baby Name of the Day: Phoenix | Appellation Mountain says:
    May 17, 2011 at 4:59 AM

    […] the alias Phoenix, in part because she re-generated.

    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 © 2021 · AppellationMountain.net on Genesis Framework · Privacy Policy · Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
We use cookies to ensure you the best experience on our website. If you continue using this site, we will assume that you're happy with it. Learn moreOk