Burnett

Spellings & scripts●(measured from records)

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●(measured from records)

Other recorded senses●(measured from records)

Burnett is also recorded in 4 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• , 9 Transferred use of the surname (from an Old French diminutive of brun ‘brown’), in origin a nickname referring to brown colouring of hair, complexion, or clothing. As a female first name it may have been chosen in some cases with reference to the plant Sanguisorba minor, known as burnet, whose leaves are used for salad (compare Sorrel and Fennel). Variant: Burnet.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In English, A surname from Old French.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In English, Carol, US actress, comedienne

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In Irish, Derivation as previous entry. The name is in Co. Monaghan and Dublin since mid-seventeenth century

  as a name·The Surnames of Ireland

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Notable people with this name●(measured from records)

• Frances Hodgson Burnettb. 1849GBEnglish-American playwright and author (1849–1924)
• Leo Burnettb. 1891USAmerican advertising executive
• William Riley Burnettb. 1899USnovelist, screenwriter (1899-1982)
• Howlin' Wolfb. 1910USnot in their usual nameAmerican blues musician (1910–1976)
• Carol Burnettb. 1933USAmerican actress, comedian and singer (born 1933)
• T-Bone Burnettb. 1948USAmerican record producer, guitarist, and songwriter (born 1948)
• Alan Burnettb. 1949USAmerican television producer
• Mark Burnettb. 1960GBBritish television and film producer and author (born 1960)
• Erin Burnettb. 1976USAmerican news anchor, currently the anchor of Erin Burnett OutFront on CNN
• Molly Burnettb. 1988USAmerican actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

How to address them○(machine-generated)

Evidence●(measured from records)

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Frequently asked questions

What does the name Burnett mean, and where does it come from?

medieval nickname for someone with brown hair or a tanned complexion, from Old French burnete 'little brown one' Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].

How do you pronounce Burnett?

A machine transcription gives /bɝnɛt/ (IPA) for English.

In which country does Burnett have the most bearers?

In the United States, the national register counted about 61 thousand people named Burnett, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled burnett.

Where is Burnett most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Burnett is densest in Guyana — about 1 in 1.4 thousand people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.

How common is the name Burnett?

In the United States, the national register counted 60,791 people named Burnett in 2010, about 1 in 5.5 thousand residents.

How common is Burnett compared with other names?

In the United States, Burnett is the 471st most common surname of 6,282,806 surnames recorded there.