Collette
A French surname that likely began as a diminutive or nickname form of Cole/Coll, and in some cases may also reflect Saint Colette.
The #6,840 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 62,664 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name Collette is best understood as a French surname built on the personal name Cole or Coll, with the -ette ending forming a diminutive or affectionate feminine-looking shape in French spelling. In surname use, that kind of form could develop from a given name, a nickname, or a shortened family-name form. Some historical writers also connected it with the personal name Colette and with devotion to Saint Colette, though that is more clearly an influence on given names than the main surname origin.
History
The historical excerpts show Collette appearing in medieval and later French and English records, alongside related forms such as Colet, Collet, and Colleye. English surname writers in the 19th century treated it as part of a larger cluster of names derived from Cole/Coll or from French place- and personal-name forms. The surname is therefore most at home in French and Anglo-Norman contexts before spreading into English records and, later, modern Anglophone usage.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same spelling family also appears in historical records as a given name or saint-related name, so Collette can sit right on the border between surname, nickname, and devotional naming.
From the historical record
“Djoidik Colet, co. O^., Ibid. ColelaEIoL 1379; P. T. Yorkt p. 154. Henriciu Tayliour, et Collette niot eioa. 1370; ibid\ p. i>7. JohandM Colet, ijJO: ibid.p.t3S- ^John Colel (i467!-isi^, deiin of St Panl't, and IOC-"— ""=• P—i- s-i—J- ptobftbly”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instancesNotable people named Collette
- Toni Collette (b. 1972)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.