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Joan (given name)

Joan (female English name: ; male Catalan name: ) is both a feminine form of the personal name John given to girls in the Anglosphere as well as the native masculine form of John 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.

List of figures named Joan

Below are lists of people and fictional characters named or known as Joan. They are divided by gender and time period and within each list are presented alphabetically, by surname or title. Where the same name or title applies to more than one person, each is listed in order of birth year.

Women

Medieval and early modern periods

The following is a list of women known as Joan who lived in the Middle Ages (from around the 5th to the late 15th centuries) or in the early modern (late 15th century) period:

Modern era

Men

The following is a list of men known as Joan:

Fictional characters

Legendary or fictional characters called Joan include:

See also

Explanatory notes

References