Annette
Feminine · “grace”
Annette is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 169,296 girls against 499 boys since 1880.
Annette is Anne with a French ending attached — the same small suffix that gave Juliette, Colette and Odette their shape. It carries one of the oldest continuously used names in Europe inside it, and still comes out of the mouth in two quick beats. The spelling has stayed put for centuries: nobody has to be told twice how to write it.
How old is the name Annette?
Annette was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Annette alive today was born around 1960, making them about 65 years old. About 125,000 people named Annette are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Annette most popular?
Annette peaked in 1960, reaching #62 nationally. Today it ranks #1443, 1,381 places below that high. See the whole 1960 chart.
Annette appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Channah to Annette
The story of Annette
The root is Hebrew Channah, which reached western Europe as Anna through the Greek and Latin of the Bible. In medieval and later France, Anne was so widespread — carried along by the veneration of St Anne, named in Christian tradition as the mother of Mary — that it grew a whole family of pet forms, and Annette was among them, built with the diminutive ending -ette. From France the form spread into English use as a name in its own right rather than a nickname, and it traveled with French speakers to Canada and the United States. It has been written the same way, with two n's and one t, for a very long time.
Meaning
grace, favor
Annette is a French diminutive of Anne, which descends through Latin Anna and Greek Hanna from the Hebrew name Channah, meaning grace or favor.
How the name formed
- Channah
- Hanna
- Anna
- Anne
- Annette
Related forms: Anne · Annetta · Anita · Anneke · Annika · Channah
Pronouncing Annette
uh-NET
Stress falls on the second syllable. French speakers say it closer to ah-NET, with a fuller first vowel; both are readily understood.
Nicknames for Annette
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 19607,136 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #62reached in 1960
- Change vs 2022
- −12.9%149 in 2025, from 171
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Annette in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Anne in French — related form
- Annetta in Italian — same name
- Anita in Spanish — related form
- Anneke in Dutch — related form
- Annika in Swedish — related form
- Channah in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Annettes among us
people named Annette are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 10,787 born in 2025 was named Annette
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Loretta test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Annette's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Loretta climbed just as high around 1938, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Loretta's path sketches the road Annette is walking now.
Annette sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Annette is headed
Annette should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Annette beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Annette in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One spelling, widely known, and unchanged for centuries — rarely misspelled once heard.
- Comes with ready-made short forms, including Annie and Anne, both of which also work as full names.
- Belongs to the very large Anne family, so it has recognized relatives in French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Scandinavian.
- Two syllables with clear final stress; pairs easily with both short and long surnames.
- Long unbroken record in American use rather than a recent coinage.
- It is strongly represented among older generations in the United States, so it may read as a grandmother's name to some ears before it reads as a child's.
- The near-identical forms Anette, Annetta and Annett exist, and some people will default to one of them when writing it down.
- A child named Annette is unlikely to meet another in her school, which is a pleasure for some families and a small isolation for others.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Annette to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Annette
Feminine · #1443 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Annettes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 125,000 people named Annette are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Annette in 2025?
- Annette ranks #1443 among US girl names in 2025, with 149 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Annette?
- About 1 in every 10,787 US girls born in 2025 was named Annette — 149 in all.
- Will my child share the name Annette with classmates?
- Annette will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Annette
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Esmae#1443 · Lesly#1443 · Elysia#1443 · Journei#1443 · Evalynn#1443 · Monserrat#1443 · Rayleigh#1443 · Linnea#1443
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Annette? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Annette and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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