Bridgette is a French-influenced spelling of Bridget — from the Irish *Brighid* ("exalted one, strength"), the name of both the Celtic goddess of poetry and the most-revered Irish saint after Patrick. **A top-500 US baby name from 1965 to 1985**. **Bridgette Wilson-Sampras (born 1973)** — American actress and former Miss Teen USA (1990); *Billy Madison* (1995) as Veronica Vaughn, *I Know What You Did Last Summer* (1997), *Mortal Kombat* (1995) as Sonya Blade, *The Wedding Planner* (2001); married tennis legend Pete Sampras. **Bridgette Andersen (1975-1997)** — American child actress; *Savannah Smiles* (1982). **Bridgette Romanek** — American interior designer named to the AD100 list. **Bridgette** functions as the more decorative French-styled alternative to the traditional Irish Bridget; the spelling reflects the mid-20th-century American fashion for adding *-ette* and silent-*e* embellishments to classic names. **The underlying name honors Saint Brigid of Kildare (c. 451-525), one of Ireland's three patron saints, whose feast on February 1 became a national holiday in the Republic of Ireland in 2023 — the first Irish public holiday named for a woman.**
Featured throughout Irish heritage and American pop culture.
Bridgette reduces to nine — the number of Saint Brigid.