Genette

Girls' name

Variant of Jeannette

Genette has been given to 606 babies in the U.S. since 1911. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1956, with 18 recorded.

Babies named Genette, 2013

1 in 729,000

Genette over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Genette: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Jeannette

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Genette means

Genette is a variant of Jeannette.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Genette is used in English (Rare).

Another recorded pronunciation is /d͡ʒə.ˈnɛt/ for Genette.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Jeannette.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 606 girls were recorded with the name Genette between 1911 and 2013. Its highest annual count was 18 in 1956; its best national rank was #2,477 in 1943.

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.

U.S. Social Security Administration: national name data and limitations

How common is Genette?

Genette had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2013, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2013: 1 in 729,000; 5 of 3,645,938 births
Among girls only: 1 in 351,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2013: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 505,435 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Genette 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 2013 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 505,435 children born in 2013 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Genette. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Genettes were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Genette was born before 1954 — so the typical Genette is around 71 today.

Median birth year: 1954; About 71 years old
Biggest decade: 1960s; 19.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 1.8%; Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950: 351; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1960s — 19.3% of all recorded uses (117).

Is Genette 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: 0%; Peak was 1956 (18)
Years since peak: 69; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 36.4% average annual change
Best rank ever: #2,477; 1943

Spellings of Genette

Genette is not the most common spelling — Annette is, with 34.9% against Genette's 0.12%.

Annette34.9%169,296
Jeanette33.7%163,440
Lynette8.9%43,392
Janette6.6%32,172
Nanette3.5%16,894
Danette2.1%10,392
Evette1.3%6,211
Lanette1.0%5,005

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 Genette is used

Across 1910–2025, Genette was most concentrated in Mississippi — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 411,993 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Mississippi1 in —

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. Genette has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Genette around the world

Where Genette 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.

South Australia
1951–1951
#423
in 1951

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Genette by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #2,477; 1943
Peak year: 1956; 18 that year
First recorded: 1911
Last recorded: 2013
All-time count: 606
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Genette

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

Gennette Genessa Genesys Genisis Genecis Genevie Genetta Genevive Genieve Genessis Ninette Genova Rosette Kolette Lucette Lunette Genavieve Genevra Eliette Brette Genesee Genora Genevia Amorette

Sibling names for Genette

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

For a sister

Meryl Roxane Teena Cathrine Doretha Sherie Evonne Romona

For a brother

Hayward Burt Fritz Leigh Kennith Lonny Eddy Jeffry

Explore around Genette

Top names of 1956, Genette's peak year The 1950s in full Other names that peaked in 1943 Girls' names starting with G