Brette
Feminine · “a Breton”
Brette is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 601 girls against 11 boys since 1880.
A Brett was a Breton. When the Normans crossed to England in the eleventh century they brought Bretons with them, and English speakers needed a word for those men — so le Bret became a surname, meaning simply the one from Brittany. The extra e on this spelling is the only thing that separates it from the men's name, and it does not change a sound.
How old is the name Brette?
Brette first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Brette alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 600 people named Brette are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Brette most popular?
Brette peaked in 1986, reaching #3554 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 9,654 places below that high. See the whole 1986 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From bret to Brette
The story of Brette
Brittany was settled by Britons fleeing the Anglo-Saxon expansion, which is why it has a Celtic language and a name that means little Britain. Bretons fought at Hastings and settled in England afterward, and the surname records exactly that. Brett moved to the front of the name in twentieth-century America and became a well-used men's name; the -e spelling followed as a way of marking a daughter, on the same principle that gives Jo and Joe, Frankie and Franky. The record shows this version used almost entirely for girls with a small minority of boys.
Meaning
a Breton, a man from Brittany
From the Old French bret, a Breton — the people of the northwestern peninsula of France, who were themselves Britons who had crossed from the island centuries earlier. So the name means, at two removes, someone from Britain who went to France and came back.
How the name formed
- bret
- le Bret
- Brett
- Brette
Related forms: Bret · Breizh
Pronouncing Brette
BRET
One syllable, said exactly like the men's name and exactly like the English word it resembles. The final e is silent and does nothing but mark the spelling.
Nicknames for Brette
Moderate
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
- 1962
- Most girls named
- 199428 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3554reached in 1986
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%6 in 2025, from 6
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.
Brette in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Bret in French — related form
- Breizh in Breton — related form
Brettes among us
people named Brette are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Brette
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 Jacquilyn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Brette's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jacquilyn climbed just as high around 1952, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jacquilyn's path sketches the road Brette is walking now.
Brette 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
Brette beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Brette in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and six letters — brisk, and it sits well before almost any surname.
- It names a real people and a real place, with a documented and slightly circular history.
- It is readable on sight by anyone, with no possible mispronunciation.
- Brett is the standard spelling and is a men's name, so this version will be corrected in both directions.
- The final e is silent and invisible in speech, so nobody learns the spelling by hearing it.
- Nearly every child given this spelling is a girl, though a small number of boys carry it too.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Brette
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Brettes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Brette are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Brette in 2025?
- Brette ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Brette?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Brette — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Brette with classmates?
- Brette will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Brette
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Brette? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Brette and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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