Scarlette is the elaborated spelling of Scarlett — same bold Old French color name, same dramatic presence, with the extra letter E giving it a slightly more ornate, European feel. It peaked in 2016 alongside the broader Scarlett boom and has around 5,600 SSA records. For parents drawn to Scarlett's energy but wanting a version that reads as slightly more distinctive on paper, Scarlette is a reasonable detour.
Old French Origins and the Color Name Tradition
Both Scarlett and Scarlette trace to Old French escarlate, a word for a type of fine cloth — often dyed red, but not exclusively so. The color association solidified over centuries, and by the time Margaret Mitchell named her heroine Scarlett O'Hara in 1936, the name carried both the vividness of the color and the drama of the fabric trade. Scarlette wears all of that history while looking slightly different in a class roster or on a birth certificate.
Where the Extra E Changes Things
The terminal E is the entire story of this spelling. It moves the name closer to the French original, gives it a visual elegance, and differentiates it in an era when Scarlett has become genuinely mainstream — currently a top-30 name in the US. Whether that distinction is meaningful depends entirely on the family. Some parents find the subtle divergence satisfying; others find it unnecessary. The name sounds identical in conversation, so the distinction only lives on paper.
Nickname Paths
Scarlette's natural nicknames; Scar, Scarlett (the full version of the simpler spelling), Letty, Ette, are all functional and appealing. Letty in particular is having a quiet moment, which means Scarlette has a built-in path to a different daily name if the full version feels like too much. Scarlett for comparison, or siblings like Vivienne and Isolde, give context for the aesthetic family this name runs in.
The Counter-Reading: The Spelling Correction Loop
The dominant spelling is Scarlett. Anyone named Scarlette will spend years correcting an auto-correct that wants to remove the final E. School forms, databases, and casual handwriting will default to the more familiar version. That's a manageable friction, but it's real and worth acknowledging before committing to the less-common spelling.