Cosette

Cosette comes from Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, where it is an affectionate name for a girl whose formal name is Euphrasie. Her story, including her care by Jean Valjean, gives Cosette a recognizable literary identity. The later stage musical brought that character to audiences far beyond readers of the French novel.

The name is often explained through French chose, meaning a thing, with a diminutive ending. A connection with Colette has also been proposed, so its exact construction is less certain than its literary origin. Cosette and Euphrasie are linked by the character’s story, not by a shared linguistic root. Cozette offers a later spelling variation of the literary name.