Gia

Gia is the short form of Gianna, which in turn is the short-form of the name Giovanna, a feminine version of the Italian male name Giovanni. The name Giovanni is essentially the Italian equivalent of the English name John. John and Giovanni are both linguistically derived from the Latin “Iohannes” which came from the Greek name “Ioannes” which ultimately originated from the Hebrew “Yochanan” meaning "Yahweh (God) is gracious." Apparently, in medieval times, the “John names” were given to children born to late-in-life parents, most likely in recognition of John the Baptist’s mother, Elizabeth, who had been barren but to whom God had ‘graciously’ made pregnant later in life (and so the baby was named John). Separately, the Biblical John the Apostle is one of the authors of the four gospels, another reason why the John names have been so popular among Christians – both in their masculine and feminine forms – in many languages. While Gia started out as a pet form of Gianna and Giovanna, it has become an independently given name in its own right. Although it’s not the true origin of this name, some people associate Gia with Gaia (from the Greek meaning ‘land, earth’). In early Greek mythology Gaia was Mother Earth (Roman equivalent: Terra) and she was the mother to all the Titans through her union with Uranus (Father Sky). The Titans were the original deities of ancient Greece and predated the Olympic gods (Zeus, etc) by laying the foundation of the material world and heavens out of Chaos.