French diminutive of Nicole, from Greek 'Nikolaos' meaning victory of the people.
Nicolette is the French feminine diminutive of Nicolas, itself derived from the ancient Greek Nikolaos — a compound of nikē, meaning victory, and laos, meaning people. The full meaning therefore reads as something like "victory of the people," a name with the kind of triumphant, civic resonance that made it enormously popular in the Christian world through the fame of St. Nicholas of Myra, the fourth-century bishop whose legendary generosity evolved over centuries into the figure of Father Christmas.
Nicolette thus inherits all of that legacy while adding a French grace note, the -ette suffix marking it as feminine and softening the original martial energy into something more delicate. The name's most celebrated literary outing is the medieval French chantefable Aucassin et Nicolette, a twelfth or thirteenth-century prose-and-verse romance that tells the story of a young nobleman and his beloved Saracen captive — a work remarkable for its wit, its proto-feminist heroine, and its genre-bending form. Nicolette in that tale is resourceful, brave, and more capable than her besotted lover, giving the name an early association with feminine intelligence and agency.
The story was widely read in the scholarly revival of medieval literature during the Romantic era and fixed Nicolette in the literary imagination. As a given name in modern use, Nicolette has always occupied a somewhat rarified register — recognizable but not common, clearly French-influenced, and carrying a natural elegance that resists being shortened (though Nikki and Colette both orbit nearby). Notable bearers include Nicolette Sheridan of Desperate Housewives fame, who brought the name to a broad American audience in the 2000s. Today Nicolette appeals to parents who want the familiarity of Nicole with additional flourish — a name that feels both classical and stylishly feminine.