Paulette
Feminine · “small”
Paulette is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 47,087 girls against 65 boys since 1880.
Paulette is small twice over. Paulus was a Roman family name from the ordinary Latin word for little, and French added -ette, which means the same thing again.
How old is the name Paulette?
Paulette first appears in US birth records in 1907 — 118 years ago. The typical Paulette alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 37,000 people named Paulette are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Paulette most popular?
Paulette peaked in 1946, reaching #117 nationally. Today it ranks #1534, 1,417 places below that high. See the whole 1946 chart.
Paulette appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From paulus to Paulette
The story of Paulette
Paul became one of the great names of Christianity, and every language built feminines on it: Paula, Paola, Pauline, Paulette. The -ette ending was fashionable in French naming and, from the 1920s, in American naming too — Claudette, Yvette, Nanette, Paulette all arrived together. Paulette peaked in America in the mid-1940s.
Meaning
small, humble
From the Latin paulus, 'small' or 'little', through the Roman family name Paulus, with the French diminutive -ette added. The apostle is Saul in the early chapters of Acts and Paul thereafter, and the change has been read since antiquity as a deliberate adoption of a humbler name.
How the name formed
- paulus
- Paul
- Paulette
Related forms: Paulette · Paoletta · Paulita
Pronouncing Paulette
paw-LET
Two syllables, stress on the second. French says it the same way.
Nicknames for Paulette
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
- 1907
- Most girls named
- 19492,553 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #117reached in 1946
- Change vs 2023
- +2.2%138 in 2025, from 135
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.
Paulette in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Paulette in French — same name
- Paoletta in Italian — related form
- Paulita in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Arizona.
Paulettes among us
people named Paulette are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 11,647 born in 2025 was named Paulette
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 Ramona test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Paulette's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ramona climbed just as high around 1928, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ramona's path sketches the road Paulette is walking now.
Paulette 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 Paulette is headed
Paulette should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Paulette beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Paulette 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 transparent and carries a genuinely interesting act of self-naming behind it.
- It is standard in French, and its cousins are standard across Europe.
- The end stress gives it a distinct rhythm against a front-stressed surname.
- It is firmly period-coded to the middle of the twentieth century.
- The double diminutive means the name is, literally, 'little little'.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Paulette
Feminine · #1534 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Paulettes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 37,000 people named Paulette are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Paulette in 2025?
- Paulette ranks #1534 among US girl names in 2025, with 138 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Paulette?
- About 1 in every 11,647 US girls born in 2025 was named Paulette — 138 in all.
- Will my child share the name Paulette with classmates?
- Paulette will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Paulette
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Sofie#1534 · Naziyah#1534 · Reem#1534 · Harleigh#1534 · Renesmee#1534 · Riya#1540 · Aarna#1540 · Zylah#1540
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Paulette? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Paulette 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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