What Do the French Call the English Channel?

What do the French call the English Channel?  It’s a fun fact: the English Channel, according to the French, looks like a sleeve. Therefore, the French refer to the famous body of water as “La Manche,” which means, literally, “the sleeve.”

So, now you know what the French people call the English channel, but let's take a closer look into why they call it this.

• The “sleeve” reference certainly makes sense when you examine the unique tubular shape of the body of water.
• In fact, the stretch of Atlantic Ocean that forms the channel is often referred to as an “arm” of the ocean because of its shape as it stretches up to form the division between England and France.

Where Is the English Channel?

The English Channel, specifically, forms a natural line of delineation between Great Britain and Northern France. It continues on to join in with the North Sea and eventually feeds out into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Name of the English Channel

When asking what the French call the English channel, you may also wish to learn more about the name of the channel.

• The name “the English Channel” has been in use since the 1700s.
• Before that time, it was referred to on maps as the British Sea.
• “La Manche” has been the name used by the French since the 1600s or possibly earlier.

Some people theorize that, because of rocky relations between the French and the English, the French don’t like to refer to such a big, important landmark as English, which is where the “manche” name comes from, but this is doubtful considering the age of the reference. There are also theories that an ancient Celtic word meaning “channel” had a sound similar to “la manche” and led to the current name. There are other theories (and other names used in other languages) that make it nearly impossible to be sure.