Mette

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 29 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Mette is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name31K records spelled Mette8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Netherlands, United States, Germany, Norway

  Languages: English, Western Frisian, Dutch

  Also written Metté, Mêtte

• a separate given name2.0K records spelled Mette2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Norway, United States, Sweden, United Kingdom

  Also written Métté

• a separate given name1.2K records spelled Mette2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Norway, India, United Kingdom

  Also written Metté

52 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Mette is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• from a pet form of the female personal name Mechthild (see Metz).

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In Norwegian, a female given name of Danish origin

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Norwegian Bokmål, definite singular/plural of mett

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Norwegian Nynorsk, definite singular of mett

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, Mette är dels en lågtysk smekform till Mechtild (→ Matilda), dels en dansk form av → Margareta. En känd namnbärare är den norska kronprinsessan Mette-Marit (f. 1973). I den finlandssvenska almanackan 14 mars.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

NO SSB — Navn (1880–present) — 65 years between 1945–2012. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Mette Bockb. 1957DKDanish politician, journalist and consultant
• Mette Blochb. 1966Danish rower
• Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norwayb. 1973NOwife of Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway
• Mette Vestergaardb. 1975DKDanish handball player
• Mette Heenob. 1976DKDanish screenwriter
• Mette Frederiksenb. 1977DKPrime Minister of Denmark since 2019
• Mette Towleyb. 1991USAmerican actress
• Mette Poulsenb. 1993DKbadminton player
• Anne Mette Hansenb. 1994DKDanish handball player
• Mette Tranborgb. 1996DKDanish handball player

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 327 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Mette?

We estimate roughly 54 thousand people bear Mette (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Mette have the most bearers?

We estimate about 38 thousand people bear Mette in Denmark, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled mette.

Where is Mette most common?

Mette is densest in Denmark, where the national register counts about 1 in 155 people carrying it.

How common is Mette compared with other names?

In Denmark, Mette is the 18th most common given name of 31,396 given names recorded there.

Is Mette a male or female name?

Mette is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Mette mean?

Recorded meaning: topographic name from Old French mete ‘boundary stone’, ‘boundary’ (from Latin meta ‘bounded estate’).