Joan

Where Joan comes from

A clipped or hypochoristic form of Joanna, from Latin Joanna, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννα (Iōánna), from Hebrew יוֹחָנָה (Yôḥānāh, literally “God is gracious”), the feminized form of יְהוֹחָנָן (Yəhōḥānān) which produced John and its many doublets. As a placeholder name, cf. similar use of John and Jack. Doublet of Ivana, Jana, Jane, Janice, Janis, Jean, Jeanne, Jen, Joanna, Joanne, Johanna, Juana, Shavonne, Sian, Siobhan, Shane, Shaun, Shauna, and Sheena.
— Wiktionary's entry for Joan
  • French
  • Catalan
  • 1 syllable
Joan through the years
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #492 among girls, with 12 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1893
    Joan Miró born
    Spanish painter, sculptor, and ceramicist
  3. 1932
    Peak, #5
    21,044 babies named Joan, the most in any year.
  4. 1941
    Joan Baez born
    American contemporary folk musician
  5. 1945
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #25.
  6. 2000
    Mostly boys from here
    Until now more girls than boys got the name. From this year on, more boys have.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from French, a feminine form of John.
  • A male given name from Catalan, a form of John.
Namesakes
  • Joan Miró · Spanish painter, sculptor, and ceramicist, 1893–1983
  • Joan Baez · American contemporary folk musician, born 1941
  • Joan Crawford · American actress, 1905–1977
  • Joan Fuster · Spanish writer, 1922–1992
  • Joan Rivers · American comedian, actress, and television host, 1933–2014

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.