Violette
A feminine French name meaning "violet flower".
Name Census estimates that about 3,882 living Americans carry the first name Violette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Violette today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Violette births was 2024 (270 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Violette. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Violette with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Violette is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.9K
~ 1 in 88,293 Americans
Peak year
2024
270 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#964
Tracked since 1886
Census
Violette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,206 people with the first name Violette, which placed it at #5,372 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#5,372
National first-name rank
People counted
3.2K
3,206 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Violette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Violette is White at 56.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.1%) and Black (15.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Violette described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Violette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.6% · 1,815
- Hispanic or Latino20.1% · 644
- Black or African American15.0% · 482
- Two or more races5.3% · 171
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 70
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 24
Popularity
Violette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Violette from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,758 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Violette remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Violette 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 Violette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Violettes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Violette, while Rhode Island, Kentucky, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 84 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Violette
The given name Violette is derived from the French word "violette" meaning "violet" the flower. The name has its origins in the Late Latin word "viola" which was the name for several species of violet flowers. Violette can be traced back to the Romance languages and cultures of Southern Europe in the medieval era.
Violette was initially a descriptive name given to children with violet-colored eyes or hair during the Middle Ages. The violet flower was a symbol of modesty and humility in ancient Greece, and these positive associations contributed to the name's rise in popularity across Europe. The earliest recorded instances of Violette as a given name appear in French records from the 13th century.
In the 14th century, Violette was the name of a character in the medieval French romance "Le Roman de la Rose" by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun. This literary work helped to further popularize the name across Francophone regions. During the Renaissance period, Violette gained favor among affluent families who appreciated its floral symbolism and French elegance.
Notable historical figures named Violette include Violette Leduc (1907-1972), a French author celebrated for her autobiographical works such as "La Bâtarde" and "Thérèse et Isabelle". Violette Morris (1676-1769) was a British botanist and illustrator known for her pioneering work in documenting the flora of the West Indies.
Violette Nozière (1915-1966) was a controversial French woman who gained notoriety for her involvement in the "Parricide of Petit Clamart" case in the 1930s. Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell Buissière (1918-1988) was a French-born British secret agent during World War II, celebrated for her role in the French Resistance.
Violette Szabo (1921-1945) was a remarkable French-British secret agent who served with great distinction in the Special Operations Executive during World War II, receiving the George Cross posthumously for her bravery behind enemy lines.
People
Violette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Violette as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with V
Other first names starting with V with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Violette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Violette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,882 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Violette 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 88,293 US residents.
Is Violette a common name?
We classify Violette as "Rare". It ranks above 95.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,102 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Violette most popular?
The single biggest year for Violette was 2024, when 270 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Violette is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Violette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,206 people with the name Violette, or 1.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,372 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Violette in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Violette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Violette appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,207 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Violette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Violette is White at 56.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.1%) and Black (15.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Violette most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Violette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.6% (1,815 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Violette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Violette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Violette 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.
Is Violette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Violette in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Violette can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people are called Violette?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.