In Hollywood’s Golden Age, there was nothing that would make an actress (before they were called actors) seem more chic and sophisticated than a French-sounding name, especially one ending in ‘ette,’ as in the cigarette they often smoked in a long, ivory holder.

　　And so Pauline Levy became Paulette Goddard, Lily Chauchon (who actually did have French roots) was renamed Claudette Colbert, Ruby Fabares morphed into Nanette Fabray, and Jeanette MacDonald remained Jeanette MacDonald.

　　These and other glamorized Gallicized names caught on with the baby-naming public, which led to a lot of little Annettes and Nanettes.  Many of these names sound terminally dated at this point due to their era-stamped ending and being overly obvious feminizations of male names.  But there are also some less familiar ‘ette’ names that aren’t necessarily Grandmas.  And so here are two lists: those ette names that may have been overexposed  in the past, and those that sound somewhat fresher.

　　OLD-ETTES:

　　Annette

　　Antoinette

　　Babette

　　Bernadette

　　Claudette

　　Colette

　　Georgette

　　Jeanette

　　Juliette

　　Laurette

　　Mariette

　　Nanette

　　Nicolette

　　Paulette

　　Suzette

　　Yvette

　　NEWER-ETTES:

　　Alette

　　Aliette

　　Alouette

　　Ambrette

　　Arlette

　　Blanchette

　　Corette

　　Cosette

　　Doucette

　　Fanchette

　　Fleurette

　　Florette

　　Ginette

　　Henriette

　　Jacquette

　　Josette

　　Junette

　　Lisette

　　Lucette

　　Lunette

　　Musette

　　Ninette

　　Odette

　　Olivette

　　Pierrette

　　Sylvette

　　Toinette

　　Villette

　　Violette