Ginette
Feminine · “Little Geneviève”
Ginette is a French diminutive, and France produced a whole generation of them — an entire fashion for names ending the same way, given to daughters between the wars and now almost entirely vanished there.
How old is the name Ginette?
Ginette first appears in US birth records in 1940 — 85 years ago. The typical Ginette alive today was born around 1970, making them about 55 years old. About 800 people named Ginette are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ginette most popular?
Ginette peaked in 1959, reaching #1918 nationally. See the whole 1959 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Geneviève to Ginette
The story of Ginette
The -ette ending is real French grammar rather than decoration: it makes a diminutive, and French applies it to ordinary words as well as names — a kitchenette is a small kitchen, a cigarette a small cigar. Between the wars it was applied to women's names on an industrial scale, producing Ginette, Odette, Paulette, Colette, Jeanette, Yvette and a dozen more, all fashionable at once and all dated within a generation. The American -etta, which looks like the same thing, is a borrowing of a borrowing: English took the Italian version of the same Latin ending and used it as decoration, without the grammar that makes it mean anything.
Meaningscholars disagree
Little Geneviève, or little Eugénie — the two long forms compete
It is a diminutive of Geneviève or of Eugénie, and which one is not recoverable. Geneviève's own origin is Gaulish and unsettled; Eugénie is Greek and means well-born. The ending adds smallness or affection and no meaning of its own.
How the name formed
- Geneviève
- Ginette
Related forms: Ginette · Ginetta
Pronouncing Ginette
zhi-NET
Two syllables with the stress at the back. French says the opening as a soft zh; American speakers usually use a plain j.
Nicknames for Ginette
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
- 1940
- Most girls named
- 195934 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1918reached in 1959
- Change vs 2018
- +20.0%6 in 2019, from 5
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.
Ginette in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ginette in French — same name
- Ginetta in Italian — same name
Ginettes among us
people named Ginette are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Ginette sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is genuinely French rather than French-looking.
- The back stress gives it a crisp finish.
- It is short and easy for an English speaker despite its origin.
- Americans will say the first letter as a hard j, which is not how it is said in France.
- The ending dates the name to one European generation.
- The two possible long forms have different meanings, so neither is safely hers.
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Ginette
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Ginettes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Ginette are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ginette in 2025?
- Ginette is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Ginette with classmates?
- Ginette will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More G names
The most-given names starting with G, all years combined.
Grace#38 · Gloria#654 · Gladys#3211 · Geraldine#2438 · Gail#8362 · Gertrude#6546 · Georgia#99 · Gina#2076
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ginette? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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