This rare feminization of Christopher blends in the sounds of the popular Josephine and is certainly more unexpected than Christine or Christina. German artist Christophine Reinwald (sister of playwright Friedrich von Schiller) is one notable bearer, while writer Jean Rhys used the name for a character in her 1966 Jane Eyre retelling, Wide Sargasso Sea. In the Caribbean and the UK, Christophine is also the colloquial name for the chayote fruit, a type of gourd named as such in reference to Christopher Columbus.
