Nannette
Feminine · “favor”
Nannette is a diminutive of a diminutive of a shortening. Ann gave Nan by a trick of medieval English; Nan took the French -ette; and this spelling doubled the n on top. Underneath all three layers is a Hebrew word for favor, which has survived the whole process intact.
How old is the name Nannette?
Nannette first appears in US birth records in 1889 — 136 years ago. The typical Nannette alive today was born around 1958, making them about 67 years old. About 4,600 people named Nannette are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nannette most popular?
Nannette peaked in 1963, reaching #539 nationally. See the whole 1963 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Hannah to Nannette
The story of Nannette
The name got a considerable push from the stage. A musical comedy called No, No, Nanette opened in the nineteen-twenties, ran everywhere, and produced a song that everyone knew for the next fifty years; the name enters American records in numbers around it. The doubled n in this spelling is an English habit rather than a French one — French writes Nanette with one — and it does what doubled consonants always do in English, which is keep the preceding vowel short without changing anything else.
Meaning
favor; grace
Hebrew Hannah means favor or grace, and Greek made it Anna, which spread across Europe and became Ann and Anne in English. The meaning is one of very few in naming that nobody disputes. Nan came from Ann by a process of misdivision — mine Ann heard as my Nan — and -ette is the French diminutive. So the name says something like little favor, at three removes and with no letters left from the original.
How the name formed
- Hannah
- Anna
- Nan
- Nannette
Related forms: Nanette · Annette · חַנָּה
Pronouncing Nannette
na-NET
na-NET, two syllables, stress at the back, the -ette said as a single crisp syllable. The doubled n does not lengthen anything; Nanette and Nannette are identical in the mouth and differ only on the page.
Nicknames for Nannette
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
- 1889
- Most girls named
- 1964291 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #539reached in 1963
- Change vs 2009
- −16.7%5 in 2013, 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.
Nannette in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nanette in French — same name
- Annette in German — related form
- חַנָּה in Hebrew — transliteration
Nannettes among us
people named Nannette 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
Nannette 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
- Nan and Nettie are both complete short forms and they sit in different registers.
- The meaning is settled and shared with one of the most-used names in Europe.
- The -ette ending is unambiguous, so the name is said right on first sight.
- Nanette with one n is the French and more common spelling, and this will be rewritten as that.
- The -ette ending places the name in an earlier American period fairly precisely.
- It is three removes from Ann, so explaining the connection takes longer than most people will listen.
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Nannette
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Nannettes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,600 people named Nannette are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nannette in 2025?
- Nannette is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Nannette with classmates?
- Nannette will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More N names
The most-given names starting with N, all years combined.
Nancy#965 · Nicole#382 · Natalie#89 · Norma#2002 · Nora#20 · Naomi#47 · Nellie#533 · Nina#324
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nannette? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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