Joan
Joan of Arc was largely responsible for the popularity of the name Joan for girls in the English-speaking world in recent years.
Pronunciation
  • English: /dʒoʊn/
  • Catalan-Valencian, Occitan: IPA: [(d)ʒuˈan]
Gender
Female (for Anglosphere name);
  • Male (in Catalan-Valencian languages and Occitan language; the local form of John)
Origin
Word/nameHebrew
MeaningThe Lord is gracious
Other names
Related names
Female:

Joan (female name: /dʒoʊn/; male name: [(d)ʒuˈan]) is both a feminine form of the personal name John given to females in the Anglosphere; and the native masculine form of John (for males) in the Catalan-Valencian and Occitan languages. In both cases, the name is derived from the Greek via the Latin Ioannes and Ioanna (or Johannes and Johanna), and is thus cognate with John and related to its many forms, including its derived feminine forms.

The name was disseminated widely into many languages and cultures from the Greek name Ἰωάννης (romanised, Iōannēs), along with its feminine form Ἰωάννα (romanised, Iōanna).[1]: 144 [2] Its ultimate origin, as with John, is from the Hebrew Yohanan (יוֹחָנָן‎),[a] "Graced by Yah", or Yehohanan (יְהוֹחָנָן‎), "Yahweh is Gracious".[3]

History

The Anglosphere female name Joan entered the English language through the Old French forms, Johanne and Jehanne, female variants of the male name Johannes.[1]: 356 

In Catalan-Valencian and Occitan, Joan (pronounced [(d)ʒuˈan]) has been in continuous use as the native, masculine form of John since at least the Middle Ages.[4] Its feminine counterpart in these languages is Joana. Historically, Joan and Joam were also the main forms of John in medieval Portuguese (or Galician-Portuguese). The Lusophone world later diverged in adopting João ([ʒuˈɐ̃w]) as its native form of the masculine John, while Joana, as in Catalan and Occitan, remains the female form for Portuguese speakers.[b][4]

List of figures named Joan

Below are lists of people and fictional characters named or known as Joan. They are divided by gender and time period and within each list are presented alphabetically, by surname or title. Where the same name or title applies to more than one entry, each of the sub-entries for the group is listed in order of birth year.

Women

Medieval and early modern periods

The following is a list of notable women known as Joan who lived in the Middle Ages (from around the 5th to the late 15th centuries) or in the early modern (late 15th century – c. 1800) period:

Modern era

The following is a list of notable women known as Joan who were born in the late modern (post-1800) and contemporary historical (post-1945) periods:

Men

The following is a list of notable men known as Joan (pronounced [(d)ʒuˈan]):

Fictional characters

Legendary or fictional characters called Joan include:

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. ^ Also, a related longer form, Yəhôḥānān (יהוחנן‎), meaning 'Yahweh has been gracious'.
  2. ^ Compare to the name's Spanish forms, Juan (pronounced [xwan]) and Juana (pronounced [ˈxwana]).

References

  1. ^ a b Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A dictionary of first names, Oxford Paperback Reference (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1
  2. ^ Yonge, Charlotte Mary (1884). "Names from 'Chaanach'". History of Christian Names. London: Macmillan. pp. 39–46. [Part I, Chapter III, Section V].
  3. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "John" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 432.
  4. ^ a b Brown, A.; Grim, G.; Le Get, R.; Shiel, N.; Slíz, M.; Uckelman, J.; Uckelman, S.L. (2021). "John". In Uckelman, S.L. (ed.). The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources. dmnes.org.
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