Brigette
Feminine · “Irish "exalted one”
For centuries the Irish would not use this name directly. Brigid was too holy to give a child, so families used Maol Bhríghde instead — devotee of Brigid — and did the same with Mary, giving Maolmhuire. The name became usable only when that scruple faded.
How old is the name Brigette?
Brigette first appears in US birth records in 1953 — 72 years ago. The typical Brigette alive today was born around 1979, making them about 46 years old. About 5,400 people named Brigette are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Brigette most popular?
Brigette peaked in 1968, reaching #716 nationally. Today it ranks #7491, 6,775 places below that high. See the whole 1968 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Brigit to Brigette
The story of Brigette
Name avoidance out of reverence is documented across several traditions, and Ireland's case is unusually clear. Instead of naming a child Brigid or Mary outright, families used a compound with maol, a devotee or tonsured servant: Maol Bhríghde and Maolmhuire, which survive as the surnames Mulready and Mulryan and Gilmore. The direct forms came into ordinary use later, and Bridget became so common in nineteenth-century Ireland that in America it was used as a generic label for an Irish servant, which pushed the name out of favor for a generation. The French spelling Brigitte re-entered English-speaking use in the 1950s and 1960s, and Brigette peaks in 1968.
Meaning
Irish "exalted one"
From Old Irish Brigit, from brig, power, strength or high standing, giving something like the exalted or high one. It is the name of a pre-Christian Irish goddess associated with poetry, smithcraft and healing, and of Brigid of Kildare, the fifth- and sixth-century abbess who is one of Ireland's three patron saints. Brigette is a French-influenced spelling of the same name; French uses Brigitte.
How the name formed
- Brigit
- Bridget
- Brigitte
- Brigette
Related forms: Brigitte · Bríd · Birgitta · Birgit
Pronouncing Brigette
brih-JET
Two syllables, stress on the second, on the French pattern. The Irish Bridget is BRIJ-it with front stress, and Bríd is one syllable, breed.
Nicknames for Brigette
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
- 1953
- Most girls named
- 1968185 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #716reached in 1968
- Change vs 2024
- +100.0%14 in 2025, from 7
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.
Brigette in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Brigitte in French — spelling variant
- Bríd in Irish — same name
- Birgitta in Swedish — same name
- Birgit in German — same name
Brigettes among us
people named Brigette are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 114,805 born in 2025 was named Brigette
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 Leonore test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Brigette's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Leonore climbed just as high around 1906, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Leonore's path sketches the road Brigette is walking now.
Brigette 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
Brigette beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Brigette in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and unusually strong: the exalted one.
- It carries both a goddess and a national patron saint.
- Bree and Gigi work as modern short forms.
- Brigitte and Bridget are both more standard spellings.
- English and French stress the name on different syllables.
- The 1960s peak dates a bearer fairly clearly.
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What they receive
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Brigette
Feminine · #7491 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Brigettes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,400 people named Brigette are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Brigette in 2025?
- Brigette ranks #7491 among US girl names in 2025, with 14 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Brigette?
- About 1 in every 114,805 US girls born in 2025 was named Brigette — 14 in all.
- Will my child share the name Brigette with classmates?
- Brigette will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Brigette
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Christie#7491 · Carmelita#7491 · Jetta#7491 · Hildegard#7491 · Rickie#7491 · Billy#7491 · Angelyn#7491 · Jewell#7491
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Brigette? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Brigette and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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