France's first lady Brigitte Macron, and the giant female panda Huan Huan, file photos. [Photo/VCG]

PARIS - France's first lady Brigitte Macron will be named godmother of the expected twin cubs, the first babies panda in the European country, Beauval zoo officials said Thursday.

"China will choose the names (of the cubs). Brigitte Macron will give us the honor of being the godmother," Delphine Delord, the zoo's communication director wrote on her tweeter account.

The giant female panda Huan Huan, which is on loan to France from China, will give birth to the twins on either Aug 4 or 5.

The female panda and her male partner Yuan Zi arrived in central France's Beauval zoo in January 2012.

There are about 2,000 pandas in the world. They are classified as "vulnerable" species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.