As Coco Chanel pointed out, fashion is madein order to become unfashionable, which is all very well if you are selling dresses but not great if you are named Mauricette or Alphonse and your friends are Kevin and Camille.

In fact, Kevin and Camille are already slippingand it will, in 1996, be more chicto be an Alexandre or Manon. Marie, which has been suprisingly modish for quite a while, is fading in favor of Isabelle, which is in turn threatened by Nathalie. Put Jean in mothballs and bring out Michel, which will not be dethroned by Philippe until the year 2018.

Fashions in French names are further dictated by such accessories as regional preferences: Justine is hanging on in the north while Jordan is positively exploding in Lorraine. The Breton Corentin might wellwin national favor, in imitation of similar names endingin "in" such as Quentin and Valentin. Alsace likes Lucas, the Loire Simon. Normandy is high on Hélènebut Provence is not.

These are the findings in"La Cote des prénoms1996," an annual study published by Ballandand compiled by Philippe Besnard, aprofessor of sociology, and Guy Desplanques of the National Institute of Demographic Studies. (Guy as a first name hasn't been fashionable since 1931, while Philippe's popularity reached its heights, particularly in the middle classes, in the early 1950s.)