Joslyn

Joslyn is a reconstructed spelling of the traditional Jocelyn. Jocelyn is the transferred use of a surname brought to England by way of the Norman Conquest in the 11th century. It started out as an Old French masculine given name, Joscelin, which was modeled after an old Germanic tribe from present-day southern Sweden and northern Europe, the Gauts/Geats (often referred to as the Goths). The etymology of the word Gaut is derived from the common Germanic word “geutan” meaning “to pour, flowing water, stream or waterfall” (probably having to do with their original Northern European position surrounded by water). In any case, the name was used mainly for males until modern times when the application shifted to females. Now that Jocelyn is a Top 100 female name in the United States, Americans perform their usual spelling alterations. Joslyn is one such example of this stylistic change to a more traditional, classical spelling.