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ArchivesCharlotte or Carlotta - which name came first?
It is usually stated that Charlotte is the feminine version to French Charles. Recently I read in a name book that it is French for Carlotta. That makes sense to me since French names that end with -tte usually don't have an o before that. There are Juliette, Annette, Henriette, etc. Carlotta is Italian and Carlos is Spanish, right? Has Carlos been used much in Italy too?
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There may not be many other common given names that end in -otte in modern French, but there are quite a few French or Norman French surnames derived from given names that end in -ot or -otte. This shows that -ot was a productive suffix in French in medieval times. Some examples of such names from Dauzat's Dictionnaire etymologique des noms de famille et prenoms de France include Jacot, Jacotte, Louisot, Michelot, Mathiot, Pierrot, Mariot, Mariotte, Denisot, and Gerardot.
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Carlotta (Italian) and Carlota (Spanish) are adaptations of the French Charlotte, a feminine form of Charlot, a diminutive form of Charles. That is why there is and -o.
The Spanish Carlos is masculine and equivalent to the Italian Carlo (the feminine form of which is Carla).
The Spanish Carlos is masculine and equivalent to the Italian Carlo (the feminine form of which is Carla).
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