It was probably in honour of St. John the Evangelist’s guardianship of the Blessed Virgin that her name became commonly joined with his. Giovanni Maria Visconti of Milan, appears in the fifth century, and Juan Maria and Jean Marie soon followed in Spain and France.

Johann was the correct German form, usually contracted into Hans; and it was the same in Sweden, where Johann I., in 1483, was known as King Hans; and in Norway, Hans and Jens, though both abbreviations of Johan, are used as distinct names, and have formed the patronymics, Hanson and Jensen, the first of which has become an English surname. Ivan the Terrible, Tzar of Muscovy, was the first prince there so called, though the name is frequent among all ranks, and the sons and daughters are called Ivanovitch and Ivanovna.

Rare as patronymic surnames are in France, this universal name has there produced Johannot, while the contraction is Jeannot, answering to the Spanish Juanito and the patronymic Juanez. Jan is very frequent in Brittany, where the diminutive is Jannik.

Jock is the recognized Scottish abbreviation, and it would seem to have been the older English one according to the warning to Jockey of Norfolk, at Bosworth. Jack sounds much as if the French Jacques had been his true parent; but “sweet Jack Falstaff, old Jack Falstaff” has made it alienable from John.

Though Joanna was a holy woman of the Gospel, her name did not come into favour so early as the male form, and it is likely that it was adopted rather in honour of one of the St. Johns than of herself, since she is not canonized; and to the thirty feasts of the St. Johns, in the Roman calendar, there are only two in honour of Joannas, and these very late ones, when the name was rather slipping out of fashion. Its use seems to have begun all at once, in the twelfth century, in the south of France and Navarre, whence ladies called Juana in Spanish, Jehanne or Jeanne in France, came forth, and married into all the royal families of the time. Our first princess so called was daughter to Henry II., and married into Sicily; and almost every king had a daughter Joan, or Jhone, as they preferred spelling it. Joan Makepeace was the name given to the daughter of Edward II., when the long war with the Bruces was partly pacified by her marriage; and Joan Beaufort was the maiden romantically beloved by the captive James I. The Scots, however, usually called the name Jean, and adopted Janet from the French Jeanette, like Annot from Annette.

The various forms and contractions are infinite:—

English.Scotch.Welsh.Breton.Gaelic.
JohnJohnJanJanIan
JohnnyJohnnieJenkinJannik
JackJock
Jenkin
Erse.German.Danish.Dutch.Belgian.
ShawnJohannesJohanJanJehan
EoinHansJanneJantjeJan
HanschenJens Hannes
Hans Hanneken
Jantje Hanka
Bavarian.Swiss.French.Spanish.Portuguese.
JohanJohanJeanJuanJoao
HanslHanJeannoJuanitoJoaninho
HansliJehan—old Joanico
Hasli Joaozinho
Italian.Modern GreekRussian.Polish.Bohemian.
GiovanniΙωαννηςIvanJanJan
GianniJannesVanjaJanek
GianGiannesVanka
GiovanoliGiankosIvanjuschka
GianninoGiannakesVanjuschka
VanniJoannoulosVanjucha
NanniNannos
Gianozzo
Slavonic.Illyrian.Lett.Lithuanian.Esthonian.
JovanJovanJanisJonasJohan
IvanJovicaJankeAncasHannus
JanezJvoAnsJonkusAnts
JveicaAnsisJonkutti
Jvic Enseliss
Enskis
Hungarian.Lapp.
JanosJofan
JaniJofa

Jessie, though now a separate name, is said to be short for Janet. Queen Joans have been more uniformly unfortunate than their male counterparts. Twice did a Giovanna reign in Naples in disgrace and misery; and the royalty of poor Juana la Loca in Castille was but one long melancholy madness. There have, however, been two heroines, so called, Jeanne of Flanders, or Jannedik la Flamm, as the Bretons call her, the heroine of Henbonne, and the much more noble Jeanne la Pucelle of Orleans. The two saints were Jeanne de Valois, daughter of Louis XI., and discarded wife of Louis XII., and foundress of the Annonciades, and Jeanne Françoise de Chantel, the disciple of St. François de Sales.

Johanna is a favourite with the German peasantry, and is contracted into Hanne. It was not till the Tudor period, as Camden states, that Jane came into use; when Jane Seymour at once rendered it so fashionable that it became the courtly title; and Joan had already in Shakespeare’s time descended to the cottage and kitchen.

English.Scotch.German.Dutch.French.
JohannaJoannaJohannaJantinaJeanne
JoannaJeanHanneJanotjeJehanne
JoanJeanie JantjeJeannette
JaneJenny Jeannetton
JoneJanet
Jenny Jessie (Gael.)
Janet
JanettaSeonaid
Spanish.Portuguese.Italian.Russian.Polish.
JuanaJovannaGiovannaIvannaJoanna
JuanitaJohanninaGiovanninaZanetaHanusia
AnniusckaAnusia
Slovak.Illyrian.Bulgarian.Lusatian.
JovanaIvanaIvankuHanka
JanesikaJovana
IvancicaJovka
Ivka