Joanna

Joanna is a feminine given name deriving from Koine Greek Ἰωάννα Iōanna. Variants in English include Joan, Joann, Joanne, and Johanna. Other forms of the name in English are Jan, Jane, Janet, Janice, and Jean.

Look up Joanna in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

In other languages

• Amharic - ዮሐና Yohäna
• Arabic - يُوَنّا Yuwannā
• Armenian - Յովհաննա Hovhanna, Օհաննա Ōhanna
• Catalan - Joana
• Czech - Jana
• Danish - Johanne
• Finnish - Joanna, Johanna
• French - Jeanne
  • diminutive Jeannette, Janine
  • Old French - Jehane
• Georgian - იოანნა Ioanna
• German - Johanna
  • diminutive Hanne
• Greek - Ιωαννα Ioanna
  • Modern Greek - Γιαννα Yanna
    • diminutive Γιαννουλα Yannoula
• Hebrew - יוהנה Yoḥanah, יוכבָד Yocheved
• Hungarian - Johanna
  • diminutive Hanna, Janka
• Irish - Siobhán
  • diminutive Sinéad
• Italian - Giovanna
  • diminutive Gianna, Vanna
• Latin - Joanna, Johanna
• Lithuanian - Joana
• Malayalam യോഹന്നാ Yōhannā
• Polish - Joanna
  • diminutive Joasia, Asia, Asienka
• Portuguese - Joana
• Romanian - Ioana
  • diminutive Oana
• Russian - Ивана Ivana
• Slovak - Jana
• Spanish - Juana
  • diminutive Juanita
• Swedish - Johanna
  • diminutive Jannike
• Syriac - ܝܘܚܢ Yoanna
• Tamil - யோவன்னா Yōvannā
• Welsh - Siân

The earliest recorded occurrence of the name Joanna, in Luke 8:3, refers to the disciple "Joanna the wife of Chuza," who was an associate of Mary Magdalene. Her name as given is Greek in form, although it ultimately originated from the Hebrew masculine name יְהוֹחָנָן Yehôḥānān or יוֹחָנָן Yôḥānān meaning 'God is gracious'. In Greek this name became Ιωαννης Iōannēs, from which Iōanna was derived by giving it a feminine ending. The original Latin form Joanna was used in English to translate the equivalents in other languages; for example, Juana la Loca is known in English as Joanna the Mad. The variant form Johanna originated in Latin in the Middle Ages, by analogy with the Latin masculine name Johannes. The Greek form lacks a medial -h- because in Greek /h/ could only occur initially. The Hebrew name יוֹחָנָה Yôḥānāh was borne by men in earlier centuries, but in modern usage it has become feminine, to provide a Hebrew equivalent for the name Joanna and its variants. The Christian Arabic form of John is يوحنّا Yūḥannā, based on the Syriac form of the name. For Joanna, Arabic translations of the Bible use يونّا Yuwannā based on Syriac ܝܘܚܢ Yoanna, which in turn is based on the Greek form Iōanna. Sometimes in modern English Joanne is reinterpreted as a compound of the two names Jo and Anne, and therefore given a spelling like JoAnne, Jo-Anne, or Jo Anne. However, the original name Joanna is a single unit, not a compound. The names Hannah, Anna, Anne, Ann are etymologically related to Joanna just the same: they are derived from Hebrew חַנָּה Ḥannāh 'grace' from the same verbal root meaning 'to be gracious'.

Women named Joanna

• Saint Joanna, one of the women associated with the ministry of Mary Magdalene. She brought myrrh to Christ's sepulchre and discovered the empty tomb (Luke 24:10).
• Joanna, Duchess of Brabant
• Joanna I of Naples
• Joanna II of Naples
• Joanna of Navarre, consort of King Henry IV of England
• Saint Joana, Crown Princess of Portugal
• Joanna of Castile, queen regnant of Castile, known as Joanna the Mad
• Joanna Baillie, Scottish poet and playwright
• Joanna Cameron, an American actress who played Isis on The Secrets of Isis
• Joanna al-Askari Hussain, known as Joanna of Kurdistan, a peshmerga warrior from Kurdistan in northern Iraq, who fought Saddam Hussein's regime in the 1980s and then escaped.
• Joanna Kerns, an American actress who played Maggie Seaver on Growing Pains.
• Joanna Krupa, a Polish model and actress
• Joanna Newsom, an American harpist, singer, and songwriter
• Joanna Pacitti, a singer, known simply as Joanna
• Joanna Pacuła, a Polish actress
• Joanna Russ, an American science fiction author known for her writing on radical feminist themes, author of The Female Man
• Joanna Carley, a supply chain expert at Target (also known as SCE 1)
• Joanna Stone, an Australian javelin thrower
• JoJo, an American singer; credited as Joanna Noëlle Blagden (her real name, also known as Levesque) in her acting career

Joanna in popular culture

• Joanna is the title of a 1925 American silent movie and a 1968 British musical movie.
• Joanna is the name of a goanna, a reptile, in The Rescuers Down Under.
• Joanna is the name of the main character in Erich Maria Remarque's novel Arch of Triumph.

Songs containing references to 'Joanna'

• "Joanna" by Rod McKuen
• "Joanna" by Cris Williamson.
• "Joanna" by Kool & the Gang
• "Joanna" by Scott Walker
• "I Don't Feel Like Dancing" by The Scissor Sisters
• "Chelsea Dagger" by The Fratellis
• "Gimme Hope Jo'anna" by Eddie Grant, about the city of Johannesburg, capital of the Republic of South Africa
• "Little Joanna" by Mcfly
• "When Joanna Loved Me" by Tony Bennett
• "Get Busy" by Sean Paul
• "Visions of Johanna" by Bob Dylan
• "Joanna" by Peter Grant
• "God Told Me To" by Paul Kelly
• "Joanna" by The Maple State
• " Joanna " a wonderful girl's name

Other uses

• Joanna (butterfly), a genus of butterflies in the grass skipper family.
• Joanna (typeface), a serif typeface designed by Eric Gill.
• "The Joanna" or "the old Joanna" are nicknames given to the piano.

External links

• "Joanna" at Edgar's Name Pages - with history, naming frequency statistics, related names, and famous namebearers
• Icons of St. Joanna the Myrrh-Bearer here and here