This paper addresses the complicated issue of attribution of gender in French nouns. Firstly, it presents a range of views on how native speakers address noun gender allocation, plus some insight into why they are accurate with most, but by no means all, gender attributions. Secondly, the paper explains some of the inconsistencies in noun gender allocation and challenges the value of a system which has long been discarded by several other languages. Thirdly, it explains the confusion noun gender allocation presents for students and introduces a refreshingly simple, but effective, system to help. Finally, the paper concludes that, because mastering the gender of every noun is all but impossible, not only for learners, but also for native speakers, the best approach for students is to master the strategy presented in this paper, and for teachers not to penalise gender errors too harshly.