Names That Mean Gracious

Lovely Irish name which has inspired many Anglicized variations, but using the original form preserves the integrity of one of the most beautiful Gaelic girls' names.

A simplified spelling of the French name Yannick. It's almost unknown to English speakers, but could be an interesting Euro-chic alternative to the more popular Henrik.

Jac is one of the new "creative" variations of Jack, a name on the rise in its own right and not just as a short form of John. But why, when Jack is so simple and so familiar, make it Jac and invite people to guess whether it's pronounced like Jake, or maybe like the French Jacques.

Johannes never caught on in the US, but popular European short form Hannes may be more accessible.

With its upbeat Slavic/Scandinavian air, it has the most potential of all the Jan names.

An lesser-known member of the John-Joan family, though popular in its native habitat, has never emigrated, possibly due to its non-intuitive pronunciation.

A Colonial-era nickname for Joan.

Goodbye Uncle Vanya and hello...It Girl baby name? It's true — style icon Chloë Sevigny chose the name Vanja for her son, born in 2020. The name honors Vanja's paternal heritage — Chloë's partner is the Croatian-born gallerist Siniša Mačkovic.

Jenica might work if you can't decide between Jennifer and Jessica. It's certainly a more distinctive option.

Gio is a cute, more androgynous variation of Gia that could work well as a nickname for names such as Giovanna, Giordana, or Giorgia. It was chosen by Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo for their daughter in 2018.

This might be a better choice than the similarly pronounced Jan, to avoid gender confusion.

This Italian boys name has started to be used on girls, with 251 girls in the US being given this appellation in 2021. Beware that the gender neutral names trend isn't international, and a female Gianni travelling through Europe is likely to be given a lot more grief. May we suggest the feminine Gianna or modern Giann as alternatives? For whatever gender, Gianni is one of the most popular Italian baby names around.

Juana with an X factor.

Teasagh or Teasag, which can be Anglicized as Jessie, is a Scottish form of Jean, which itself originated as a Scottish feminine form of John. Scotswomen called Jessie are more likely to be properly named Teasagh than Jessica.

Evans is an historic Welsh patronymic surname, derived from Evan, which is a form of John. With Evan's popularity in the U.S. and the U.K. -- it's a Top 50 names -- the stylish s-ending version may also be on the rise.

A contracted form of Yehochanan, the Biblical Hebrew form of John. Variants include Yohanan and Johanan and the increasingly popular short form is Yahya.

Jianna was one of the fastest-rising names of 2020 after the deaths of Kobe and Gianna Bryant. It continued to rise in 2021.

This spelling of the traditional nickname for John is a bit more feminine than Johnny, based on the fashion at the turn of the 20th century to use boyish diminutives ending in -ie for girls.

Rare Scottish variant of John, with multicultural overtones.

Classically, the De- prefix indicates "son of," so any variation of this name could work for the child of a dad named Shawn or Sean.