Names ending in ette

Has a musty 1940s feel. Try Georgia -- or Georgiana.

This is a Scandinavian variant of Margaret, and is pronounced MEH-teh or MET, rhyming with jet.

Whether you spell it Lisette or Lizette, a somewhat dated diminutive that nevertheless retains some charm.

Suzette has a kind of clunky retro charm – so kitsch it's almost cool again.

A less common relic of the Claudette-Paulette-Annette era.

French diminutive of Marine

Frenchified name rarely used in France. And perhaps even more rarely used in the US -- there were NO baby girls given the name on the official records of 2021.

There was a time when French names like Annette, Paulette – and Nanette – were chic, but now, we'd have to say "No, no, Nanette".

A less-popular alternative to Juliette, perhaps – although it feels rather more dated.

Embroidered lace hankie of a name, used in a Thomas Hardy novel. That literary cred lends some gravitas.

Pronounced a la Bette (Betty) Davis or Bette (Bet) Midler, a twentieth-century relic. Though if the equally vintage Betty comes back, Bette may be close behind.

Henriette is to Henri (or Henry) what Charlotte is to Charles. Yet this elegant French name is surprisingly rare in the States.

It's interesting how names imported to the US from other countries and cultures have fashion cycles of their own. Paulette along with cousins Annette and Claudette were the most fashionable French imports in the middle of the last century, only to sink from sight and be replaced by such current French favorites as Charlotte, Sophie, and Eloise. In general, feminizations of male names have faded in favor of gender-neutral choices, and Paul itself is off its own fashion peak. But Paulette has the same vintage charm as names like Margot and Josephine that are very much a la mode. And far from being extinct, Paulette hits that sweet spot of names that are familiar but not over-used. It was given to about 130 baby girls in the US last year, on par with May, Avalon, Jolee, Liza, and Vivianne. This is three times as many baby girls as were named Paulette in 2000, so while the name may still lie well beneath the Top 1000, it's very much on the way up.

Not quite Nanette and not quite Ninon, this is one of the more unusual 'ette' options. There was an eponymous Spanish film, starring Elsa Pataky, based on a novel.

Long associated with jazz great Ornette Coleman, this name's main problem is that almost all other ette-ending names -- from Annette to Paulette -- are unequivocally feminine.