Giana

Giana is a small alteration of the Italian Gianna (whereby Americans have arbitrarily dropped one of the “n”s). Gianna is the short-form of the name Giovanna which is the female 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 ancient times, the “John names” were given to children born to late-in-life parents since John the Baptist’s mother (Elizabeth) was well past child-bearing years when God “graciously” gave her John. Just as Giovanni, Gianna and Gia are Italian female forms of John, the English equivalents would be Joanne, Jeanne and Jane. Giana is a new spelling apparently created by Americans. Italians do not spell Gianna with one “n”.