Dutch, not an uncommon nickname, seems to be used for a variety of reasons. It could be because a person is connected to Holland, or because a person is of German descent. Here, "Dutch" is from "Deutsch," the German-language word for "German." Other reasons are more idiosyncratic. Here are some examples:
Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States
As a boy, Reagan's father nicknamed his son "Dutch", due to his "fat little Dutchman"-like appearance, and his "Dutchboy" haircut; the nickname stuck with him throughout his youth.
Dutch Schultz, notorious gangster
His old associates dubbed him "Dutch" Schultz in honor of a deceased strong-arm thug who was notorious for dirty fighting at the turn of the century.
Dutch Ruppersberger, U.S. congressman
Dutch is legally part of his name: Charles Albert Dutch Ruppersberger III, but it wasn't always. When Rep. Charles Albert Ruppersberger III (D-Md.) first ran for Congress in 2002, he decided that his 13-letter last name was too long to put on a bumper sticker.
Besides, he says, he needed something catchier, something that would stick in people’s heads. So he opted for his lifelong nickname: Dutch. But there was one hitch: It wasn’t his real name, so he couldn’t put "Dutch" on the ballot.
"When you market yourself, you have to make sure that you have the same name on the ballot, so I needed ‘Dutch’ on the ballot," he said in an interview. "So what I did is I legally -- I’m a lawyer -- I legally added Dutch to my name. So I would go by C -- period -- A -- period -- Dutch, and all of the bumper stickers would say, ‘Go Dutch.’ So legally I added Dutch to my name."
But why did he choose "Dutch"? The Maryland Democrat’s nickname has been --Dutch-- since the moment of his birth.
--When I was born ... the doctor came out and said to my father, ‘You have a big blond Dutchman,’ -- he said. --So they started calling me ‘Dutch,’ and when my mother and he would write letters, he’d ask, ‘How’s the Dutchman doing?’ I’ve been called Dutch all of my life.--
Dutch Fehring, Stanford's winningest baseball coach.
It was during his freshman year in high school that he earned the nickname --Dutch,-- because he was of German descent. After Fehring returned a kickoff 60 yards for a touchdown, a local sportswriter tabbed him --The Flying Dutchman-- and the nickname stuck.
Such redundancy is rather common in place names, especially when the English usage takes the name from another language and adds its own word for the feature ("river", "hill", "mountain", etc.) See this list or this long list of tautological place names, including, e.g.
- Paraguay River ("Great River River")
- River Avon / River Tyne ("River River")
- Dal Lake / Lake Chad / Lake Tahoe ("Lake Lake")
- Bredon Hill ("Hill Hill Hill")
- Summit Peak / Pinnacle Peak (several places with these names)
- Torpenhow Hill (which is fictional, though Torpenhow exists, and while not exactly meaning "Hill Hill Hill", does mean "Head-peak hillock" or "rising-peak hill" or similar)
- Faroe Island ("Sheep island island")
- La Brea Tar Pits ("The Tar Tar Pits")
- Jiayuguan Pass ("Jiayu Pass Pass")
- Milky Way Galaxy ("Milky Way Milky Way" — this is actually a fault with the word "Galaxy"!)
- Timor Leste / East Timor ("East East", but this is actually the eastern half of the easternmost island there).
(I've only picked some representative examples; it's a very long list.)
So it would be more interesting to look for examples that aren't place names.
Best Answer
You are correct that
Filet
is the French spelling offillet
. According to the Oxford online dictionary:Filet
Fillet
So, when preparing a dish, as an ingredient, you should use the word
fillet
. When referring to the name of the dish, it will depend (as you note:filet mignon
).Additionally, the Cambridge online dictionary states that
filet
is the US spelling offillet
:Filet