Monette
A French feminine diminutive of the name Simone, meaning "hearer".
Name Census estimates that about 873 living Americans carry the first name Monette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Monette today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Monette births was 1962 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Monette. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
873
~ 1 in 392,617 Americans
Peak year
1962
40 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2022 SSA rank
#16,967
Tracked since 1910
Popularity
Monette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Monette from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 356 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Monette by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Monette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Monettes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Monette, while Tennessee, Ohio, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 30 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Monette
The given name Monette is a French feminine diminutive form of the name Simone, which itself derives from the Hebrew name Shim'on, meaning "he has heard" or "he has been heard." The earliest known use of Monette dates back to the late 18th century in France.
Monette is believed to have been popularized by its association with the French phrase "ma petite," meaning "my little one." This endearing term of affection may have contributed to the name's adoption and use as a diminutive form of Simone.
In the 19th century, Monette gained some popularity among French aristocratic families. One notable bearer of the name was Monette de Brie (1825-1896), a French courtier and lady-in-waiting to Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III.
Another historically significant figure named Monette was Monette Bouton (1840-1921), a French writer and novelist known for her works exploring the lives of working-class women in Paris during the late 19th century.
In the early 20th century, Monette Kahn (1898-1978) was a French actress and singer who performed in numerous Parisian revues and operas. Her career spanned several decades, and she was celebrated for her performances in operettas and musicals.
Across the Atlantic, Monette Moore (1902-1962) was an American actress and dancer who appeared in numerous Broadway productions and Hollywood films during the 1920s and 1930s. She is best remembered for her roles in the Marx Brothers' films "Animal Crackers" (1930) and "Monkey Business" (1931).
Monette Beaugrand (1913-2007) was a Canadian writer and journalist from Quebec. She was a prominent figure in the Quebec literary scene and served as the president of the Société des écrivains canadiens (Society of Canadian Writers) from 1972 to 1974.
People
Monette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Monette as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Monette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Monette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 873 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Monette going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 392,617 US residents.
Is Monette a common name?
We classify Monette as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,335 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Monette most popular?
The single biggest year for Monette was 1962, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Monette is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Monette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Monette in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.