Janice

Janice is a name created by American author Paul Leicester Ford; she’s the titular character in his 1899 historical novel “Janice Meredith” (about a woman who assists George Washington and Paul Revere during the American Revolution). Ford’s novels were generally met with considerable success, and so he was able to introduce a wide audience to this new name. It’s basically an elaboration on Jane, the English female equivalent of John. John is the anglicized form of the Latin “Iohannes” (form the Hebrew “Yochanan”) meaning “Yahweh is gracious” or “God is generous, merciful”. John has always been and continues to be one of the most successful English names of all time since the Middle Ages (European men of all ethnicities rediscovered the name John during the Crusades, which were a series of Holy Wars whereby Christians attempted to recapture the Holy Lands from the Muslims). From that point on, John became an ultra-popular choice among the English, bestowed upon one in every five boys by the end of the Middle Ages. The female version of this name, Jane, has also been one of the most successful and frequently used of all girl names since the 16th century. It’s no surprise then that Jane would spawn some new variations of herself such as Janet, Janessa and Janice.