Cosette

The male equivalent to Cosette is Nicholas, which means victorious people.

As defined in Victor Hugo's 'Les Miserables', Cosette means 'Little Indulged One'.

A diminutive of "chosette," meaning 'little thing'. Comes from a combination of "chose," meaning 'thing', and the common feminine ending "ette," often translated as 'little' or 'small'. [noted -ed]

In 'Les Misérables' the girl's name is Euphrasie. Cosette is a nickname taken from the French word "chosette", or "little thing".

Means "little thing" in Provençal. Cosa is thing, the suffix -ette makes it little, affectionate.

French origin, means "victorious people".

I have been told that this means something to the effect of 'victorious'.

I'm pretty sure that in Les Mis, the meaning of Cosette is given as 'little thing'.

Cosette is not a derivative of Nicole/Nicolette, so it does not mean "victory of the people." It's not even a derivative of Euphrasie. Tholomyes left Fantine way before Cosette was even born and never answered any of Fantine's letters, so it's not likely he had any influence on her daughter's nickname.

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Hugo came up with this, based possibly on "chosette" (little thing) as something a young, doting mother would call her child. If that theory is true, it essentially means "little one" and nothing more than that.

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Josette is a diminutive of Josephine and certainly has nothing to do with Cosette. (Although its a good idea not to name your kid Cosette if she'll ever go to France - it's the equivalent of saying with sarcasm "poor little rich girl!")

Cosette may have given rise to the French name Josette (found in the main database), as a sort of play on words. If one accepts the idea that Cosette is derived from Chosette, it's rather easy to see the leap from Chosette (shoh-zet) to Josette (zhoh-zet). The "play on words" comes in if you imagine combining the "jo" of Josephine with the "-osette" of Cosette, effectively marrying one image of the French feminine ideal (quiet regal strength) with another (vulnerable innocence). Josette is a lovely alternative to Cosette, as the French I know tend to react to "Cosette" as Americans might react to the name "Baby" if born by an adult woman. My advice is to consider saving this name for your French poodle.

Cosette means "victorious people" in French, this is why Euphrasie, the illigitimate daughter of Fantine in Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" is given this nickname.

Cosette means "victorious people". In Les Miserables, Cosette's real name is Euphrasie, but she is nicknamed Cosette by her mother, and rarely goes by anything else.

Another possible source may have come from Fantine's beau and Cosette's father, Felix Tholomyes. According to Hugo, Felix has some Spanish ancestry, and has been know to entertain his companions with Spanish songs. In Spanish, the word "cosa" means "thing", as does the word "chose" or "chosette" in French. Felix might have frenchized the Spanish word to call either Fantine or his daughter his "little thing" as a term of endearment.

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The idea of the name being possibly derived from both the word(s) meaning "little thing" and the name meaning "victorious people" would certainly be very interesting. Hugo probably did that on purpose.

In the book Les Miserables, Cosette's mother Fantine is illiterate. Though the name read Euphrasie, Fantine called her daughter Cosette, as "a sort of derivative" that had no etymological root in the given name.

Cosette is a feminization and derivative of Nicholas, meaning "people of victory."

The origin of Cosette is unclear. If Victor Hugo used the word "chosette" to create the name, then it means, essentially, "little." However, if Cosette is derived from Colette, which would in turn be a pet form of Nicole, the name means "victory of the people." Convenient name for the heroine of a novel about the common people uprising against the rich.

I have also heard that Cosette is a form of Nicole, which I believe means something close to "triumph" or "victory". I love the name Cosette, I think it's my favourite name. Also, Cosette is Eponine's pseudo-sister in Les Misérables.

This name was made up by Victor Hugo for his book Les Miserables. The character Cosette's real name was Euphrasie, and somehow her mother Fantine came up with Cosette as a pet name for the child.

I've heard the name Cosette was another form of the name Nicole, meaning "victorious people".

My name is Cosette and I've heard it meant "Victory over the People" or "Victory of War" or "Little Pet".

Cosette, meaning "Victory in War" or "Triumph in War" is also the name of the lead woman in "Les Miserables", a French play about the French Revolution.

The name Cosette comes from our English word "cossetted", which means "pampered."

Victor Hugo said he created Cosette from "chosette", meaning "little thing", in French.

I've read that Cosette is a variant of Colette.