Does my surname still exist in France ?

You can use a powerfull search engine http://www.notrefamille.com/

Here are some explanations to use this site.

On the bottom of the page, you can select "Votre nom depuis 1890"
which means "Your surname since 1890".
You type your name and select "OK".

Then you can get a map with various colours, according to the number of births registered with that surname during a 25 years period.
For example, for the surname "Bettinger", 249 children are born in France between 1966 and 1990.
Most of these children are born in the North-East of France.
If you move the pointer on a department, you will read how many children are born in that department, in the frame on the bottom left-hand corner of the page.

At the bottom of the page, you find 4 links to change the search-period.
(from 1891 to 1915, 1916-1940, 1941-1965, or 1966-1990)