French feminine diminutive of George, from Greek 'georgos' meaning farmer or earth-worker.
Georgette is a French feminine diminutive of George, whose roots lie in the Greek 'Georgios' — 'ge' (earth) + 'ergon' (work), meaning essentially 'farmer' or 'earth-worker.' Saint George, the dragon-slaying martyr of Cappadocia, carried the name to every corner of the Christian world, and its feminine forms followed in his wake. Georgette, with its distinctly French diminutive suffix, emerged in France as the most elegant of those forms — lighter than Georgina, more continental than Georgia, with a built-in sophistication that English speakers have always associated with things Parisian.
The name carries a remarkable dual legacy. In fashion, a 'georgette' is a sheer, crinkled silk or synthetic fabric, named after the early twentieth-century French modiste Georgette de la Plante, whose creations draped the shoulders of Edwardian society. The fabric's name stuck long after the designer was forgotten, giving Georgette a permanent association with elegance and fine material.
In literature, the name belongs above all to Georgette Heyer (1902–1974), the English novelist who essentially invented the modern Regency romance and whose sharply witty, impeccably researched novels remain beloved nearly a century later. Heyer's Georgette is a name associated with intelligence, dry wit, and narrative craft. In the mid-twentieth century, Georgette was a fixture in France and among Francophile families elsewhere; it dipped during the latter decades of the century but has returned to favor as vintage French names generally have. It offers warmth and femininity without sentimentality, and the nickname 'Georgie' makes it easy to wear at every age.