Joan

Joan (female name: ; male name: ) 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 and (or and ), 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 (romanised, ), along with its feminine form (romanised, ). Its ultimate origin, as with John, is from the Hebrew, "Graced by Yah", or, "Yahweh is Gracious". 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. In Catalan-Valencian and Occitan, Joan has been in continuous use as the native, masculine form of John since at least the Middle Ages. 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 as its native form of the masculine John, while Joana, as in Catalan and Occitan, remains the female form for Portuguese speakers.