This article describes the conventions for using people's names in France, including the norms of custom and practice, as well as the legal aspects.
In normal polite usage, a person's name is usually preceded by:
During the Ancien Régime, a laywoman was always addressed "Mademoiselle", even when married, "Madame" being reserved to women of high aristocracy, even not married. This practice ceased after the French Revolution.
A traditional address to a crowd of people is Mesdames, Messieurs or Mesdames, Mesdemoiselles, Messieurs — whose order of words represents decreasing degrees of respect. An informal variant is Messieurs-Dames; it is considered as ill-mannered by purists.
It is normally impolite to address people by their given names unless one is a family member, a friend or a close work colleague of comparable hierarchic importance. One also does not address people by their last name only unless in a work environment. Also, contrary to English or German usage, it is considered impolite to address someone as Monsieur X when talking to that person: a mere Monsieur should be used, Monsieur X being reserved for talking about M. X to another person.
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