Joanna

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

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 ''Yəhôḥānān'' 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 name Joanna, like Yehohanan, was associated with Hasmonean families. Saint Joanna was culturally Hellenized, thus bearing the Grecian adaptation of a Jewish name, as was commonly done in her milieu.

At the beginning of the Christian era, the names Iōanna and Iōannēs were already common in Judea. The name ''Joanna'' and its equivalents became popular for women "all at once" beginning in the 12th century in Navarre and the south of France. In England, the name did not become current until the 19th century.

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'' forms a feminine equivalent in Hebrew for the name Joanna and its variants. The Christian Arabic form of John is يوحنّا ''Yūḥannā'', based on the Judeo-Aramaic 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 ''Joanna'' is reinterpreted as a compound of the two names Jo and Anna, and therefore given a spelling like JoAnna, Jo-Anna, or Jo Anna. 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'. Provided by Wikipedia