| Colette | Belle | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Victory of the people | Beautiful |
| Origin | French | french |
| Gender | Girl | Girl |
| Pronunciation | koh-LET | BEL |
| Syllables | 2 | 1 |
| First appeared | 1892 | 0 |
| Peak year | 2025 (962) | 1915 (407) |
| In 2025 | 962 | 0 |
| Trend | Near its peak | Vintage |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Colette | Belle |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 4,403 | 1,522 |
| 2010s | 4,998 | 2,405 |
| 2000s | 1,666 | 1,297 |
| 1990s | 1,426 | 392 |
| 1980s | 1,790 | 112 |
| 1970s | 2,494 | 171 |
| 1960s | 4,764 | 261 |
| 1950s | 3,670 | 398 |
| 1940s | 1,204 | 429 |
| 1930s | 747 | 538 |
| 1920s | 461 | 1,545 |
| 1910s | 250 | 2,901 |
| 1900s | 76 | 2,096 |
| 1890s | 38 | 2,512 |
| 1880s | 0 | 2,648 |
Colette is a French short form of Nicolette, “victory of the people.”
The French word belle 'beautiful', feminine of beau, from Latin bellus. Used as a given name meaning 'beautiful' and also a short form of names like Isabelle/Annabelle.
Colette is more popular than Belle today: about 962 US babies were given the name Colette in 2025, compared with 0 named Belle.
Colette means Victory of the people (French origin), while Belle means Beautiful (french origin).
In US records, Colette first appears in 1892 and Belle in 0, so Belle has the longer recorded history.