légitime

In law légitime describes a child born during the marriage, or born after the father's death within the time the law allows. Baptism entries add it before the parents' names, as in fille légitime de, to show that the parents were married.

The opposite is illégitime, or naturel. A child born before the marriage could later be legitimized when the parents married, and French civil records may note this in the margin of the birth entry.