Joanne (given name)

Joanne (alternate spellings Joann, Johann, Johanne) is a female name derived from the Greek name Joanna (Koinē Greek: Ἰωάννα, romanized: Iōanna) via the French Johanne.^[1]

In modern English, Joanne has sometimes been reinterpreted as a compound of the two names Jo and Anne, thus forming the name Jo-Anne, or one of its variants, which include JoAnne and Jo Anne. However, the original name Joanna in ancient Greek, Hebrew and Latin is a single unit, not a compound name. The names Hannah, Anna, Anne, Ann are etymologically related to Joanne just the same: they are derived from Hebrew חַנָּה Ḥannāh 'grace' from the same verbal root meaning "to be gracious".

In Northern Ireland of 1975, "Joanne" was the most frequently used name for female newborns, though by the early years of the 21st century, the name had declined in popularity so that it could not be counted among the twenty most frequently used.^[2]