There are different ways to name the country of France. Some of the examples sometimes describe just a part of France and not all the territory. Most of those nicknames come from the long history of France. Let’s start the list of the names for France!

1 – La France

This is the most common way to name this country. The name comes from the 5th century, different Frankish kingdoms succeed to the Roman occupation of Gaul. These kingdoms are spread over part of northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. The name “France” comes from the word “Franc”.

The Frankish people are a people of warriors who elect their leader, the king of the Franks. They freely decide to go to war with him. This is why the word “Frank” also meant “free man”.

2 – La République française or La République


3 – L’Hexagone

This nickname refers to to the shape of France of a hexagon. We can see a six-sided polygon. There are three land sides and three maritime sides. This is why the expression Hexagon is frequently used to describe the French territory.

4 – Le pays des droits de l’Homme

This nickname “The country of human rights” is the result here again of the French Revolution in 1789 with the creation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, a central text of the French Revolution.

5 – La Gaule

The Gaul was a time, more than two thousand years ago, where the borders were close to the ones of the actual France. This is a humorous way to name France and to refer to his history. This part of history gave to France his national animal symbol: The rooster. This animal never give up and fight until the end. For example, you can see the animal on the national jersey of the football, rugby and handball teams. 

6 – La France métropolitaine or La Métropole

The “Metropolis” is the way, in the international law, to call the French territory in Europe. This includes the island of Corsica. By the way, I wrote an article about traveling in Corsica: The French Road Trip Island. 

7 – La France continentale
“Continental France”, another way amongst the names for France to describe the French territory located in Europe.

8 – DROM-COM or DOM-TOM or La France d’outre mer

With the reform of the regions (=states) set up on 1 January 2016, the Overseas Departments / les Départements d’Outre-Mer (DOM) and Overseas Territories / Territoires d’Outre-Mer (TOM) have disappeared. The term “DOM-TOM” does not exist anymore but the French people still use it. The new name is DROM-COM.

5 Department and Overseas Region / 5 Département et Région d’Outre-Mer (DROM): DROM is now used for the former DOM:

Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Reunion and Mayotte.

5 Overseas Communities / 5 Collectivités d’Outre-Mer (COM)

Saint-Barthélémy, Saint-Martin, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna


1 Oversea Communitie (COM) with a special status:

New Caledonia

3 Overseas Territories / Territoires d’Outre Mer (TOM). The acronym still exists for those territories:

French southern lands, Antarctic Lands and Island of Clipperton

Names for France
France in the world

DROM-COM source wikipedia

Countryside nicknames of France

9 – La province

The province, this is a word that I and non-Parisians French people hate a lot. I hear only this word when I meet Parisian people. The province is everything except Paris. Being from the north or south or anywhere is exactly the same for them. It sounds really arrogant when a Parisian use it. 

“Ah, t’es de la province ?” (= Ah, you are from the province?”)

10 – La France profonde

The deep France is to describe the parts of France disconnected from the big French cities. 

Bonus: La diagonale du vide

The empty diagonal is a huge area where the population is quite low. It goes from north-east to south-west of France. The “diagonale du vide” is la France profonde :p 

This is it for the article about the names for France. Now, I invite you to read one more article about 7 Fun facts about the Tour de France.