How Many Variants Are There For The Name Jane?

One of the most enduring of English names, Jane is derived from the French Jeanne or Jehanne; these names in turn are feminine forms of the old Hebrew name Johanan, meaning "god is merciful/ gracious." Johanan in its English version is John, so John and Jane are basically the same.

Jane has a large number of variants. The best known are Jayne, the Scottish forms Jean and Janet, and the elaborate forms of these such as Janette, Jeanette (as in author Jeanette Winterson) Jan and Janice. There are also many less common forms such as Janelle, Janetta, Janine and Janis (as in singer Janis Joplin.) Other languages have similar forms which are more or less familiar to English speakers, such as Jana and Janna.

Famous Janes include the nine-days' Queen of England, Lady Jane Grey, American actress and political activist Jane Fonda and fictional heroine Jane Eyre. Pet forms include Janie, Janey and, formerly, Jenny.