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Origin: |
Joanna is the feminine form the Hebrew name Yochanan (Latinised as Johannes) derived from the Hebrew Yhvh "Yahweh; the God of Israel" and chanan "to show favor, be gracious". The feminine name was found in New Testament in the Greek form Ιωαννα (Ioanna) which then became Latinised as Johanna. Joan is the English vernacular form which was in use from at least the 13th century. The variant Joanne existed as Johanne/Johane in the Middle Ages, however, it's modern use may have been influenced by the rise of other -anne names such as Diane, Suzanne and Leanne, and Anne itself, in the mid-19th century. |
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Usage: |
According to the New Testament, Joanna, mentioned in the gospels, was the wife of Chuza who managed the household of Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee. Joanna was healed by Jesus and later supported and accompanied Jesus and his disciples. Like most women in the Bible, Joanna only gets brief mention. However, in Jesus’ Female Disciples: The New Evidence, Bible experts Helen Bond and Joan Taylor argued that these brief mentions contain clues that Joanna was actually quite an influential woman, and a crucial part of Jesus' following. She is described as being perhaps "one of the most important disciples in the whole movement": As a witness to Jesus' resurrection, Joanna was regarded as a saint in the Christian church, which is why forms of her name became widespread across Europe. Johanna (later Joanna) was used in the Latin records but the vernacular form Joan (Johan, Johane) was used in English, Jehanne in French, Giovanna in Italian and Joana/Juana in Spanish. It was not very common before the 13th century, but quickly grew in popularity. This rise in the 13th century coincides with the popular legend of Pope Joan, an apocryphal early medieval female pope. The legend was first written down in the 13th century and quickly spread across Europe where it was believed to be true for centuries. In most versions of the story, Joan is an intelligent and able English woman who disguises herself as a man so that she can have access to education afforded to clergy. She rises through the ranks of the church and is eventually elected as pope under the name Pope John VIII. Her identity was finally revealed when, on a procession through Rome, she went in to labour and died in child-birth. The name came into royal use when Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine named their third daughter Joan(na) in 1165. Joan of England / Joanna Plantagenet, as she is now referred, went on to become queen consort of Sicily. Her brother, King John I, also had a legitimate daughter named Joan of England (1210–1238) who became Queen consort of Scotland as well as an illegitimate daughter named Joan who became "Lady of Wales" when she married Llywelyn the Great, Prince of Wales and Gwynedd. Many many more royal Joan(na)s followed across Europe over the following centuries: several of these royal Joan(na)'s actually wielded power in their own right, acting as regents or ruling independently. Then, of course, there was Joan of Arc (c. 1412–1431), the famous French heroine who led French forces against the English in the Hundred Years' War and was later canonised as a saint. In George Redmonds analysis of 1000 names from 10 English counties in 1377-81, Joan ranks at #3, just behind Alice and Agnes. Joan remained common up until the 18th century however, it began to decline slightly in the mid-1600s. This coincides with the rise of Joanna itself, which Smith Bannister points out was a more common choice of name during the latter decades of the period, most particularly after 1640, alongside Mercy, Lydia and Dinah. We can see this usage in Smith Bannister's rank of top 50 names from 1538 to 1700 in England:
According to Leslie Dunkling's rankings, Joan was #18 and Joanna was #27 in 1700. By 1800, Joan declined to #45 and Joanna to #46. Joan saw a massive rise in the early 20th century, reaching the top 100 once again by 1904. I cannot pin point any one thing that explains this rapid rise, though there are several works pertaining to Joan of Arc during this period, including a 1900 French silent which was distributed in England. In every decade in the 20th century, some form of Joanna ranked in the top 100 in England and Wales as records from the Birth Index show:
From 1996 to 2004, both Joanna and Joanne saw a decline in use in England and Wales while Joan remained consistently uncommon. Since then, Joanna and Joan have remained in consistent use, while Joanne has seen a decline. In 2017, Joanna ranked #439 with 100 births, Joanne ranked #1817 with 16 births and Joan ranked #2502 with 10 births in England and Wales. In 1900 in Scotland, Joan ranked #42, Johan ranked #84 and Johanna ranked #91. By 1950, only Joan remained, ranking #23 and by 1975 it had been replaced by Joanne at #28 and Joanna at #72. In 2018, Joanna ranked #502 (6 births), and Joanne and Joan both ranked at #1571 (1 births) in Scotland. |
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Famous Bearers: |
Royalty: * Joan of England, Queen of Sicily (1165–1199), daughter of Henry II of England, married William II of Sicily. History: * Joan of Arc (c. 1412–1431), French saint and martyr. Contemporary: * Joanne Herring (born 1929), American political activist.* Dame Joan Collins (b.1933), English television and film actress and author. * Joanna Lumley (b.1946), English actress and former model. * Joan Cusack (b. 1961), American actress. * Joanne Whalley (born 1961), British actress. * Joanne "J.K." Rowling (born 1965), British author. * Joanna Page (b.1978), Welsh actress. Literature and Other Media: * Joan Watson, a character from the TV series Elementary, played by Lucy Liu. |
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Variants: |
Siwan (Welsh), Jowanet (Cornish), Siobhán (Irish), Johanna (German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian), Jeanne (French), Juana (Spanish), Joana (Portuguese, Catalan), Giovanna (Italian), Ioana (Greek), Gianna (Italian, Greek), Ivana (Czech, Slovak, Serbian, Croatian, Slovene, Bulgarian, Macedonian), Jone (Basque), Ghjuvanna (Corsican) |
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Pronunciation: |
jō-AN-ə [key] |
| Possible diminutives: |
Jo, Joey, Jan, Janna |
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Sibling Names: |
Sarah Louisa Ellen Rachel Philippa Katherine |
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Name Lists: |
British Royal Names Royal Names of Europe Medieval Favourites Terrifically Tudor Gorgeously Georgian |
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Thanks to Chamali for requesting this name.
