Josette is a French pet form of Joséphine, and through Joseph it goes back to the Hebrew Yosef, "he will add" or "God will increase". It was a fashionable French name in the mid-20th century and has kept a soft, vintage charm in English. In the United States Josette sat near number 3587 in 2017, then climbed to number 1836 in 2025, its best rank on record.