French diminutive of Jane, from Hebrew Yochanan meaning 'God is gracious.'
Janette is a double diminutive with a Franco-Scottish pedigree. It begins with John — the Hebrew "Yochanan," meaning "God is gracious" — which begat Jane in English, which begat the French-inflected Janette as an affectionate smaller form. The doubling of the diminutive suffix is characteristic of French naming practice, and the spelling with the double-t gives Janette a chic Parisian tilt that separates it from the simpler Janet.
Notable bearers have clustered in the performing arts. Jeanette MacDonald, the soprano actress who starred alongside Nelson Eddy in a series of beloved 1930s MGM musicals, brought the name to international glamour — her combination of golden-age Hollywood beauty and operatic voice made her one of the defining female stars of her era. British actress Janette Scott carried the name through the postwar British cinema circuit, and later it entered pop culture permanently through The Rocky Horror Picture Show's opening song, "Science Fiction / Double Feature," which memorializes her.
The name thus has an embedded connection to old-fashioned showbiz and a particular brand of mid-century elegance. By the 1950s and 1960s, Janette and Janet had become solidly mainstream choices in both Britain and North America, part of a generation of neat, professional women's names that felt simultaneously accessible and refined. Today the name rests in a retro sweet spot — old enough to feel warmly vintage, not so old as to feel Victorian. The French spelling gives a contemporary parent something to work with: a name that wears its history gracefully and never fully goes out of style.