Given name & surname
Mette
Mette is used as a given name and a surname. Mette is connected with Merete and Mechtilde.
Meaning & origin
How it developed
In Danish use, Mette is used as a contracted form of Merete. In Low German use, Mette is used as a contracted form of Mechtilde.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1959. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. In Low German use, Mette shares an earlier linguistic root with Matilda. The history of Matilda gives this family its wider story. Use of Matilda was revived during the 18th century.
Combines direct and name-family evidence
Mette through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 68
- 0 boys · 68 girls
- Most popular year
- 2010
- 7 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 6 in 2016. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 7 in 2010. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 417 as a first name in 2020; 865 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Mette’s family of names
Mette shares a linguistic root with Matilda. In Danish usage, Mette has a related form in Meta. In Danish usage, Mette has a related form in Meta.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 5
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 3
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Mette
- Mette FrederiksenPrime Minister of Denmark since 2019born 1977
- Queen Mette-Marit of NorwayQueen of Norway (2026)born 1973
- Mette SchjoldagerDanish badminton playerborn 1977
- Mette TranborgDanish handball playerborn 1996
- Mette VestergaardDanish handball playerborn 1975
- Mette BergmannNorwegian athletics competitor (born 1962)
- Mette GjerskovDanish politician (1966–2023)
- Mette BockDanish politician, journalist and consultantborn 1957
- Mette Jacobsenswimmerborn 1973
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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