Gillette
A French surname that began as a feminine diminutive of a given name, later becoming a family name.
The #2,831 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 24,265 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Gillette is French in form and is generally understood as a diminutive or feminine pet form of a personal name, most likely related to Gilles (the French form of Giles) or to a similar name base. The ending -ette is a common French diminutive/feminine suffix, so the sense is roughly “little Gille(s)” or “daughter of Gille(s),” depending on the line of descent. In some 19th-century scholarship, names of this type were discussed as feminine surname forms that may have arisen from a woman’s given name.
History
The name is especially associated with France and later with French-speaking populations elsewhere, including North America. As with many French surnames built from diminutive or feminine given names, it likely spread through ordinary hereditary surname use rather than from a single famous bearer. Modern bearers in the United States may trace the name to French, French-Canadian, or occasionally Anglicized immigrant lines.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The -ette ending in French often gives names a distinctly feminine or diminutive feel, which is why Gillette can look like a tiny form even when it is a fixed family name.
From the historical record
“France, sous une forme féminine : Lamartine j Larousse^ Ladoucette, Lamauve , Bonnesœur j Thomine , Guillemette , Gillette , Eudine , Colette y etc. L'on doit donc supposer que le premier auteur connu des familles dans lesquelles se rencontrent des noms semblables , était un enfant illégitime ,”
— Noms de famille normands