nom de famille
\nɔ̃ də fa.mij\
The verdict
“nom de famille” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Nom qu’une personne partage avec les autres membres de sa famille, hérité de ses parents, distinct de son ou ses noms personnels (prénoms ou postnoms), et qui se transmet de génération en génération.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | nom de famille |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \nɔ̃ də fa.mij\ |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “nom de famille” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for nom de famille is 14 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \nɔ̃ də fa.mij\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Nom qu’une personne partage avec les autres membres de sa famille, hérité de ses parents, distinct de son ou ses noms personnels (prénoms ou postnoms), et qui se transmet de génération en génération.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for nom de famille, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is nom de famille, spelled N-O-M- -D-E- -F-A-M-I-L-L-E.
Definition
- 1Nom qu’une personne partage avec les autres membres de sa famille, hérité de ses parents, distinct de son ou ses noms personnels (prénoms ou postnoms), et qui se transmet de génération en génération.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “nom de famille”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is N-O-M- -D-E- -F-A-M-I-L-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \nɔ̃ də fa.mij\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.