Frenette Family History

Altered form of French Fernet (via the intermediate form Frenet; compare 2 below) reflecting the Canadian and American French practice of sounding the final -t. Compare Fernette. Alternatively perhaps an altered form of French Frenet: topographic name for someone who lived on a property of which ash trees were a characteristic feature from a derivative of frêne (Old French fresne) ‘ash tree’.

In some cases possibly also French: from the feminine form of Frenet (see 2 above).