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Babette

#15,289 in 2025Girls' name

Diminutive of Élisabeth

Babette has been given to 3,287 babies in the U.S. since 1891. In 2025 it ranked #15,289 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1961, with 178 recorded.

Babies named Babette, 2025

1 in 663,000

Babette over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Babette: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Élisabeth

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Babette means

Babette is a diminutive of Élisabeth.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Babette is used in French, German, Dutch and English.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ba.bɛt/ for Babette.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Babette → Élisabeth → Élisabeth → Elisabeth. The family’s meaning is “my God is an oath”, recorded in Latin with the source elements Elisheva.

Origin, language, and formation

Babette is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Élisabeth.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,282 girls were recorded with the name Babette between 1891 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 178 in 1961; its best national rank was #786 in 1961.

In the United States, 5 boys were recorded with the name Babette between 1961 and 1961. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1961; its best national rank was #4,105 in 1961.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Babette?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 663,000
5 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 321,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#15,289
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
459,581 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Babette sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 459,581 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Babette. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Babettes were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Babette was born before 1959 — so the typical Babette is around 66 today.

Median birth year
1959
About 66 years old
Biggest decade
1960s
35.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
0.82%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
2,328
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1960s — 35.7% of all recorded uses (1,172).

Is Babette rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
2.8%
Peak was 1961 (178)
Years since peak
64
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
23.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#786
1961

Spellings of Babette

Babette is not the most common spelling — Bette is, with 31.6% against Babette's 3.0%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Babette is used

Across 1910–2025, Babette was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in 25,000 girls, against 1 in 81,803 across all states with data. It was least common in Washington (1 in —).

04 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 in 25,000
  2. 2California1 in 50,000
  3. 3Illinois1 in 50,000
  4. 4Ohio1 in 50,000
  5. 5Colorado1 in 100,000
  6. 6Florida1 in 100,000
  7. 7Indiana1 in 100,000
  8. 8Louisiana1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Babette has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Babette around the world

Where Babette ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2011–2011
    #4,764
    in 2011
  • France
    1900–2015
    #6,051
    in 2015
  • South Australia
    1962–2005
    #775
    in 2005

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Babette

People whose public names include Babette, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Babette in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Babette. Linked forms have their own page here.

BarbetteBabethBabett

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Babette by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#15,289
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
New entry
Best rank ever
#786
1961
Peak year
1961
178 that year
First recorded
1891
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,282
Count in 2025
5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,105
1961
Peak year
1961
5 that year
First recorded
1961
Last recorded
1961
All-time count
5
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Babette

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

CosetteBabbetteLinetteJosetteCozetteArletteAnetteElietteOdetteLisetteDanetteRosetteLizetteBrigetteEllietteNinetteEvetteVioletteLissetteColletteNanetteSuzetteLanetteBrigitte

Names with a curve like Babette

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Babette, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

LoreenFondaNannettePennieGwynMerriLoreePenniDelindaVernitaTrudiSuzy

Sibling names for Babette

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Babette

Top names of 1961, Babette's peak yearThe 1960s in fullOther names that peaked in 1961Girls' names starting with BElizabeth Variations & Nicknames