Joan (given name)

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/name	Hebrew
Meaning	The Lord is gracious
Other names
Related names	Female: Jaana and Jana, Jane and Janet or "Jan", Jean, Jeanne, Johanna and Johanne, Joanne, Juana and Juanita, Joana, Ivana, Jovana and Jovanka, Ioana, Siân, Siobhán; Male:; Evan and Ivan, Ian and Iain, Ifan and Iefan, Ioan, Ion, Jaan, Jan, João, Johan, Jouan, Jovan, Shane, Siôn, Seán, Sean and Shaun, Yanne.;

Joan (/dʒoʊn/) is a feminine form of the personal name John given to females in the Anglosphere. It is the native masculine form of John (for males) in the Catalan-Valencian and Occitan languages, (pronounced [(d)ʒuˈan]). 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]

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

Still in use in Catalan, Valencian and Occitan as a masculine name, its feminine counterpart in these languages is Joana.In Spanish it is "Juana" [xuˈana] Joan and Joam were historically also the main forms in medieval Portuguese (or Galician-Portuguese). The Lusophone world later diverged in adopting João (pronounced [ʒuˈɐ̃w]) as its native form of John, while Joana, as in Catalan and Occitan, remains the female form for Portuguese speakers.^[4]

List of figures named Joan

People and fictional characters named Joan include:

Women

Medieval period

Saint Joan (disambiguation)
- Joan of Arc (c. 1412–1431), French Roman Catholic saint and martyr
Joan I (disambiguation)
Joanna of Constantinople (c. 1199–1244), Countess of Flanders
Joan of England (disambiguation)
Joan of France (disambiguation)
Joan of Habsburg (disambiguation)
Joan of Naples (disambiguation)
Joan of Navarre (disambiguation)
Joan of Portugal (disambiguation)
Joan of Scotland (disambiguation)
Joan of Valois (disambiguation)
Joan, Lady of Wales (1188–1237), wife of Llywelyn the Great, the Prince of Wales, and daughter of King John of England
Joan of Acre (1272–1307) daughter of Edward I of England
Joan, Countess of Blois (died 1292)
Joan the Lame (1293–1348), first Queen consort of Philip VI of France
Joan of Lancaster (1310–1345)
Joan of Lusignan (died 1322)
Joan, Duchess of Brittany (1319–1384)
Joan of The Tower (1321–1362), first Queen consort of David II of Scotland
Joan of Kent (1328–1385), Princess of Wales, "the fair maid of Kent", wife of Edward the Black Prince and mother of King Richard II of England
Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland (c. 1379–1440), daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, wife of Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland and Robert Ferrers, 5th Baron Boteler of Wem
Joan of Spain (1535–1573), Infanta of Spain

Modern era

Joan Allen (born 1956), American film actress
Joan Anim-Addo, Grenadian-born academic, poet, playwright and publisher
Joan Armatrading (born 1950), British singer
Joan Baez (born 1941), American singer-songwriter
Joan Barclay (1914–2002), American actress
Joan Barnett (1945–2020), American casting director and television executive producer
Joan Bennett (1910–1990), American actress
Joan Benoit (born 1957), American marathon runner
Joan Bielski (1923–2012), Australian activist
Joan Blackman (born 1938), American actress
Joan Blondell (1906–1979), American actress
Joan Cather (1882–1967), British suffragette
Joan Caulfield (1922–1991), American actress
Joan Chandler (1923–1979), American actress
Joan Collins (born 1933), English actress and author
Joan Ganz Cooney (born 1929), American television producer
Joan Cooper (social worker) (1914–1999), English civil servant and social worker
Joan Crawford (1904/8–1977), American actress
Joan Crossley-Holland (1912–2005), English gallery owner and potter
Joan Cusack (born 1962), American actress
Joan Davis (1907–1961), American actress and comedian
Joan Didion (1934–2021), American writer
Joan Dowling (1928–1954), British actress
Joan Feynman (1927–2020), American astrophysicist
Joan Bamford Fletcher (1909–1979), Canadian member of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry
Joan Fontaine (1917−2013), British-American actress
Joan Gould (born 1927), American author and journalist
Joan Greenwood (1921−1987), English actress
Joan Grounds (1939–2010), American-born Australian artist
Joan Haanappel (born 1940), Dutch former figure skater and sports presenter
Joan Hackett (1934–1983), American actress
Joan B. Hague, American politician
Joan Hansen (born 1958), American long-distance runner
Joan Harnett (born 1943), New Zealand netball player and real estate agent
Joan Hickson (1906–1998), English actress
Joan Higginbotham (born 1963), American astronaut
Joan Hotchkis (1927–2022), American actress
Joan Jara (born 1927), British-Chilean dancer and widow of Víctor Jara
Joan Jefferson Farjeon (1913–2006), English scenographer and scenic designer
Joan Jett (born 1958), American musician
Joan O. Joshua (1912–1993), English veterinary surgeon, dog breeder and feminist
Joan Kennedy (disambiguation)
Joan Marie Laurer (1969–2016), American pornographic actress, bodybuilder, model, and former professional wrestler Chyna
Joan Lawson (1907–2002), English ballet dancer and writer
Joan Leemhuis-Stout (born 1946), Dutch politician
Joan Le Mesurier (1931–2021), English actress and author
Joan Leslie (1925–2015), American actress
Joan Lin (born 1953), Taiwanese actress
Joan Lindsay (1896–1984), Australian author, best known for her novel Picnic at Hanging Rock
Joan Littlewood (1914–2002), English theatre director
Joan Lunden (born 1950), American journalist, author and television presenter
Joan Moriarty (1923–2020), British nursing administrator
Joan O'Malley, Canadian civil servant
Joan Onyemaechi Mrakpor, Nigerian politician
Joan Orenstein (1923–2009), Canadian actress
Joan Osborne (born 1962), American singer-songwriter
Joan Plowright (born 1929), English actress
Joan Redwing, materials scientist and professor at Pennsylvania State University
Joan Regan (1928–2013), English singer
Joan Rivers (1933–2014), American comedian, talk show host and businesswoman
Joan R. Rosenblatt (1926–2018), American statistician
Joni Robbins (born Joan Eva Rothman), American voice actress
Joan Shakespeare (1569–1646), sister of William Shakespeare
Joan Silber (born 1945), American writer
Joan Sims (1930–2001), English actress
Joan Micklin Silver (1935–2020), American film director
Joan Staniswalis (1957–2018), American statistician
Joan Steinbrenner (1935–2018), American vice-chair of the New York Yankees baseball team
Joan Sutherland (1926–2010), Australian opera singer
Joan Tewkesbury (born 1936), American film and television director and screenwriter
Joan Tower (born 1938), American composer
Joan Vass (1925-2011), American fashion designer.
Joan Wexler (born 1946), American Dean and President of Brooklyn Law School
Joan Wyndham (1921–2007), British writer and memoirist

Men

John (knez) or Joan, a cneaz in Wallachia around 1247
Joan Blaeu (1596–1673), Dutch cartographer
Joan Boada, Cuban ballet dancer
Joan Capdevila (born 1978), Spanish footballer
Joan Comorera (1894–1958), Spanish communist politician
Joan Cornellà (born 1981), Spanish cartoonist and illustrator
Joan Daemen (born 1965), Belgian cryptographer and inventor of Rijndael
Joan Ignasi Elena (born 1968), Catalan politician
Joan Gamper (1877–1930), Swiss-born Spanish footballer and businessman most famous as the founder of FC Barcelona
Joan Gaspart (born 1944), Spanish businessman and president of FC Barcelona (2000–2003)
Joan Laporta (born 1962), Spanish lawyer and president of FC Barcelona (2003–2010)
Joan Llaneras (born 1969), Spanish track cyclist
Joan Majó (born 1938), Spanish politician
Joan Martorell (1833–1906), Spanish architect
Joan Mir (born 1997), Spanish motorcycle racer
Joan Miró (1893–1983), Spanish artist
Joan Oumari (born 1988), Lebanese footballer
Joan Ribó (born 1947), Spanish politician
Joan Roca i Fontané (born 1964), Spanish chef
Joan Sebastian (1951–2015), Mexican vocalist
Joan Manuel Serrat (born 1943), Spanish songwriter
Joan Villadelprat, Former Operations Director and Team Manager at Benetton Formula
Joan Verdú (born 1983), Spanish footballer
Joan Voûte (1879–1963), Dutch astronomer
Joan van der Waals (1920–2022), Dutch physicist
Joan Adon (born 1998), MLB pitcher for Washington Nationals

Fictional characters

Pope Joan, 9th century legend
Joan Ferguson (Wentworth), a character from the TV series Wentworth
Joan Watson, a character from the TV series Elementary, played by Lucy Liu
Sow Joan, an Animal Crossing series character
Lt. Joan Dark, a character from the 2019 film Doom: Annihilation
Joan Lawson, a character from Small Wonder, played by Marla Pennington
Joan Holloway, Mad Men character
Joan Clayton, a character from the TV series Girlfriends, played by Tracee Ellis Ross
The clone of Joan of arc is a main character in Clone high

Explanatory notes

^ Also, a related longer form, Yəhôḥānān (יהוחנן‎), meaning 'Yahweh has been gracious'

References

^ ^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
^ Yonge, Charlotte Mary (1884). History of Christian Names. London: Macmillan. pp. 189–191.
^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "John" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 432.
^ 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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[long_he-3] Also, a related longer form, Yəhôḥānān (יהוחנן‎), meaning 'Yahweh has been gracious'

[Hanks-1] 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). History of Christian Names. London: Macmillan. pp. 189–191.

[4] Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "John" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 432.

[5] 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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Joan (given name)

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