Name Jane - meaning, origin, numerology

Jane is a feminine given name. It is the English form of the Old French name Jehanne, which was an old feminine form of the male name Johannes or Ioannes (also the source of the English name John), a Latin form of the Greek name Ἰωάννης (Iōannēs), which is derived from the Hebrew name יוֹחָנָן (Yochanan), a short form of the name יְהוֹחָנָן (Yehochanan), meaning "Yahweh is merciful".

The name was first used in large numbers in the mid-16th century for the daughters of aristocrats as an alternative to the more commonplace Joan. The two names have alternated popularity. In the early 19th century, Jane was again seen as a name with a certain amount of glamour. Joan became more popular in the early to mid-20th century, when it was ranked in the top 500 most popular names given to girls in the United States, but the name has again been displaced by Jane on the popularity charts in the 21st century.

English: originally a feminine form of John, from the Old French form Je(h)anne. Since the 17th century it has proved the most common of the feminine forms of John, ahead of Joan and Jean. It now also commonly occurs as the second element in combinations such as Sarah-Jane.
It is not a royal name: the nearest it ever came was as the name of the tragic Lady Jane Grey (1537–54), who was unwillingly proclaimed queen in 1553, deposed nine days later, and executed the following year. Seventy years earlier, the name had come into prominence as that of Jane Shore, mistress of King Edward IV and subsequently of Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, Lady Jane's grandfather. Jane Shore's tribulations in 1483 at the hands of Richard III, Edward's brother and successor, became the subject of popular ballads and plays, which may well have increased the currency of the name in the 16th century. A 19th-century influence was its use as the name of the central character in Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre (1847). In the 20th century it has been used intermittently since the 1940s as the name of a cheerful and scantily clad beauty whose adventures are chronicled in a strip cartoon in the Daily Mirror.
Variant: Jayne. See also Jean, Joan, and Joanna.
Pet forms: English: Janey, Janie, Jaynie.
Cognates: Irish Gaelic: Síne, Siobhán. Scottish Gaelic: Sìne, Siubhan. Welsh: Siân. French: Jeanne. Spanish: Juana. Italian: Giovanna, Gianna. German: Johanna, Hanne, Hansine. Dutch: Johanna. Scandinavian: Johanna; Jensine (Danish, Norwegian); Jonna (Danish). Polish: Jana. Czech: Johana, Hana, Jana.

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