girl's name
Yvette
ee-VET
- Origin French
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 268,436
Scotland
#566
1991 births
Yvette is a girl's name from a Germanic word for the yew tree, by way of Breton. It holds 268,178 recorded births but charts in exactly one market — and that market is the United States, not France, where nearly all of them were registered.
- Yvette is a name of French origin.
- Peaked in France in 1930, when 8,025 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade in France.
- First appears in birth records in 1900.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Yvette over time
Births per decade in France, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2024, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 2,965 |
| 1910s | 11,030 |
| 1920s | 57,925 |
| 1930s | 67,975 |
| 1940s | 37,885 |
| 1950s | 19,860 |
| 1960s | 4,730 |
| 1970s | 725 |
| 1980s | 170 |
| 1990s | 65 |
| 2000s | 40 |
| 2010s | 20 |
| 2020s (to 2024) | 10 |
What Yvette means
Yvette means yew, or of the yew tree. The Germanic element names the wood the longbow was made from, so the association is with weaponry as much as with the tree.
Where Yvette comes from
Yvette is a French diminutive of Yves, from the Germanic iv, a yew. Yew was the wood of the longbow, so the element carries a martial sense the tree alone does not. Saint Yves of Kermartin, a thirteenth-century Breton lawyer who took the cases of the poor without charge, is patron saint of lawyers and the reason the name saturated Brittany. Yvette and Yvonne are two diminutives of the same source that spread through France in the late nineteenth century, and both are in this run of pages.
Yvette in use
Yvette peaked in France in 1930, when 8,025 babies were registered, and our data marks it stable rather than falling. It charts in exactly one of the six markets we track — 1625th in the United States on 128 births and 2312th in Canada — across 268,436 lifetime births. That is a striking distribution: France holds nearly all of its history and no longer registers it in numbers, while the only country still using it is the one it never belonged to.
How popular is Yvette?
In 2024, Yvette was given to 5 babies in France. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Yvette is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Yvette
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Yvette also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Yvette over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Yvette
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Yvette in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Yvette
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Yvette — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Yvette
What does the name Yvette mean?
Yew, from a Germanic element — the wood the longbow was made from.
Is Yvette related to Yvonne?
Yes — both are French diminutives of Yves, from the same yew element.
Where is Yvette used?
Only the United States, at 1625th — France, which holds nearly all its history, no longer registers it in numbers.
How popular is Yvette?
1625th in the United States, and our data marks it stable.
Is Yvette a girl's or a boy's name?
Yvette is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Yvette?
Yvette has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Yvette?
Yvette is usually shortened to Vetta.
Is Yvette a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Yvette currently ranks #1,625 in France. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.