Janet

Janet is an English diminutive of Jane (a female equivalent of John). John ultimately finds his etymological roots in the Hebrew “Yochanan” meaning “Yahweh (God) is gracious” (sometime “God is generous, merciful”). John has always been and continues to be one of the most successful English names of all time. The name owes most of its popularity to the New Testament figures John the Baptist and John the Apostle; and has traditionally been a name of great importance since early Christianity. John the Baptist (like Jesus) was born under miraculous circumstances. The angel Gabriel appeared to his father (Zechariah) claiming that God will give his barren wife (Elizabeth) a son (John) to help prepare the way for the Messiah (Jesus). John the Baptist’s greatest distinction is that of baptizing Jesus himself in the River Jordan. The other John, John the Apostle, was a fisherman, the brother of James, and a follower of Christ. He is most known as one of the authors of the four gospels of the New Testament. John’s gospel focuses on Jesus as the “Eternal One of from heaven” and is considerably more theological and philosophical than the other three gospels. John is a name with many forms: Sean (Irish), Ian (Scottish), Giovanni (Italian), Jean (French), Juan (Spanish), Johann (German), Jan (Dutch), and Ivan (Russian). The name was reintroduced to Western Europeans after the First Crusade (11th century) by the Eastern Christians from the Byzantium Empire. From that point on, John became an ultra-popular choice among the English, bestowed upon one in every five boys by the later Middle Ages. The female version of this name, Jane, has also been one of the most successful and frequently used of all girls’ names since the 16th century. Sweet Janet started out as a pet form of Jane before becoming an independently given name in her own right.