Jane (given name)

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Jane
Streathamladyjayne.jpg
Lady Jane Grey is a famous Jane.
GenderFemale
Origin
Word/nameHebrew
Meaning"Yahweh is gracious/merciful"
Region of originWorldwide
Other names
Nickname(s)Janie, Jenny
Related namesJohn, Joanna, Joan
Popularitysee popular names

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".[1]

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.

Name variants[]

Alternate forms include:


People with this name[]

Arts[]

  • Jhane Barnes, fashion designer ("h" added as adult)
  • Jane Burden (1839–1914), pre-Raphaelite model and muse
  • Jane Antonia Cornish (born 1975), British Contemporary classical music composer
  • Jane Dyer, children's book illustrator
  • Jane Frank (1918–1986), American artist
  • Jane Kelly (born 1956), artist and journalist

Crime[]

Entertainment[]

History[]

  • Calamity Jane (1852–1903), U.S. frontierswoman
  • Jane Addams (1860–1935), American Nobel Peace Prize-winning social worker and co-founder of Hull House
  • Jane Digby (1807–1881), English adventurer
  • Jane Horney (born 1918), Swedish spy during WWII
  • Jane Roe, alias of Norma Leah McCorvey, plaintiff in the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in the United States

Literature[]

News media[]

  • Jane Elliott (born 1933), American civil rights activist, known for "Blue eyes–Brown eyes" exercise.
  • Jane Grant (1892–1972) American journalist
  • Jane Hill (born 1969), British newsreader
  • Jane Kramer (born 1938), American journalist
  • Jane Pauley (born 1950), American television journalist
  • Jane Pratt (born 1962), American magazine editor and publisher

Politics[]

  • Jane Harman (born 1945), member of the United States House of Representatives, representing California's 36th congressional district
  • Jane Hill (born 1936), Australian politician
  • Florence Jane Short (aka Rachel Peace) (1881 – died after 1932), British feminist and suffragette
  • Jenny (Jane) Kenney (1884–1961) also known as Jennie, British suffragette and Montessori teacher

Religion[]

  • Jane Elizabeth Faulding (1843–1904), British Protestant Christian missionary
  • Jane Frances de Chantal (1572–1641), French saint

Royalty and nobility[]

Science[]

Sport[]

Fictional Janes[]

In law[]

Jane Doe or Jane Roe is used in American law as a placeholder name for anonymous or unknown female participants in legal proceedings. "Jane Roe" was the legal pseudonym used by Norma McCorvey when she was plaintiff in the landmark American case Roe v. Wade.

Jane Doe is used in United States police investigations when the identity of a female victim is unknown or incorrect, and by hospitals to refer to a female corpse or patient whose identity is unknown.

Characters in animation[]

Comic book characters[]

  • Jane Foster, a Marvel Comics character
  • Painkiller Jane, a comic book character that spawned a made-for-TV movie and a TV series

Characters in literature[]

  • Jane, an AI character first introduced in Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead
  • Jane of the Volturi Coven, with a more powerful twin brother named Alec, both in the book series "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer.
  • Jane Crocker, a character in the webcomic Homestuck by Andrew Hussie
  • Dick and Jane, characters by Zerna Sharp
  • Jane, an entity resembling modern conceptions of AI, from the Ender's Game series
  • Jane, in Jane and the Dragon franchise
  • Jane, any of three characters in The P.L.A.I.N. Janes, 2007 comic & sequels, by Cecil Castellucci
  • Jane, Wendy Darling's daughter from J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan mythos; Jane was also the central character in the Disney Peter Pan movie sequel, Return to Neverland
  • Jane Banks, one of the Banks' children in the Mary Poppins books, film, and stage musical
  • Jane Bennet, in Pride and Prejudice, the eldest sister of the Bennet family
  • Jane Eyre, the titular character of a famous novel by Charlotte Brontë and several film adaptations
  • Jane Gallagher, a character in The Catcher in the Rye, one of the few girls whom Holden both respects and finds attractive
  • Baby Jane Hudson, the titular character in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
  • Miss Marple (first name Jane), an amateur detective created by Agatha Christie
  • Jane Porter, the sweetheart of Tarzan
  • Jayne Deverill, a Yorkshire witch in the Power of Five series by Anthony Horowitz
  • Jane Studdock, protagonist in That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis

Characters in TV, film, and theater[]

  • Jane, on 7th Heaven
  • Jane Sloan, from the TV series The Bold Type
  • Jane Christie, from the TV series Coupling
  • Jane Beale (previously Collins), from the BBC soap opera EastEnders
  • Jayne Cobb, a male character on the sci-fi series Firefly
  • G.I. Jane, a 1997 war movie, with Demi Moore in the leading role
  • Jane Mancini, on Melrose Place and the 2009 remake
  • Jane Vaughn, in Degrassi: The Next Generation
  • Jane Gloriana Villanueva, main character of television series Jane the Virgin
  • Jane Margolis, in the television series Breaking Bad
  • Jane Rizzoli, in the television series Rizzoli & Isles
  • Jane Hopper, also known as Eleven, a main character in the Netflix series Stranger Things, portrayed by Millie Bobby Brown

Characters in video games[]

  • Jane, a minor female character in the Tekken video game series
  • Jane Shepard, a playable female version of Commander Shepard in the role-playing third-person shooter Mass Effect series; "Jane Shepard" is the default name for any new female Shepard character that is built in-game, although any name can be entered
  • Jane Doe, a male character most commonly known as "The Soldier" in the popular class-based shooter game Team Fortress 2

In technology[]

  • Jane, an available voice on devices from TomTom

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Behind the Name
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