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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Joanna or Joanne?

129 replies

boxersuser23 · 29/01/2024 20:34

Or both too dated??

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BananaSplitsss · 19/04/2024 20:11

Joanna is beautiful. It’s a beautiful name. I really like it 🩷

RamsayBoltonsConscience · 19/04/2024 20:02

My middle name is Joanne and I much prefer Joanna.

AcrobaticCardigan · 19/04/2024 19:59

Too dated, but absolutely love a pp suggestion of Joanie!

LadyMonicaBaddingham · 19/04/2024 19:58

I have a Joanna in my class at the moment; it really stands out as a lovely and unusual name now.

FlutteryButterfly · 19/04/2024 19:51

Joanna! It's fine!

There is also Johanna too

Also Jocelyn ? (Joss)

PiggieWig · 19/04/2024 19:48

Out of Joanne and Joanna I prefer Joanna but there were a lot in my age group, now mid 40s - I can’t decide if it works for a baby now or not.

PiggieWig · 19/04/2024 19:47

Both my nans were called Joan, born in the 1920s. I’m not keen on Joan but I love Joanie - it’s cool and retro, and has Joni Mitchell vibes

Sweeties1989 · 19/04/2024 19:43

Joanna id choose.

peaceinourtime · 19/04/2024 15:38

Of the two Joanna. I have known two Joanne’s, one my age (mid thirties), the other late twenties though her birth name is Giovanna how she ended up being a Joanne I don’t know. Never Josephine, it is the most frumpy, dull name ever.

PigeonPigPie · 19/04/2024 15:15

Joanie?

MooseBreath · 19/04/2024 15:11

One of my best friends is called Joanne, she is 29. She was Jojo as a young child, Jo as a teen, and goes by Joanne now. It's not just the middle-aged with this name!

I quite like the sound of Joanna!

Steedness · 19/04/2024 15:08

Margo2023 · 19/04/2024 02:11

I think Joanne is a really pretty name and Joanna, although it is nice it just feels a lot more common than Joanne. Joanne is more elegant and less of them

My experience is the opposite. I’ve met way more Joanne’s than Joanna’s to the point where every Joanna I’ve met automatically get called Joanne.

Margo2023 · 19/04/2024 02:11

I think Joanne is a really pretty name and Joanna, although it is nice it just feels a lot more common than Joanne. Joanne is more elegant and less of them

itsannie86 · 12/02/2024 22:36

I love both, also love Josephine

x2boys · 01/02/2024 13:02

Product3257 · 29/01/2024 20:35

Yes. I know eventually the baby will be 80, but until then, it's ridiculous

80??
I'm 50 and Joanne/ Joanna were quite popular when I was a child
Names come in and out of fashion its a bit dated but it don't think its an awful name .

Manon10 · 31/01/2024 19:28

I’m another Joanna , I really like my name. I’ve gone by the shortening Jo since childhood to avoid being miscalled Joanne , which used to happen a lot as a child (nothing against the name Joanne but it’s not my name). Sometimes I think it would be nice to use Joanna more but probably a bit late for that now.

MattieandmummyandIs · 31/01/2024 12:47

@Hols24 I suppose I just say it as it is spelt - Jo and Anna. I'm not conscious of saying it with a gap between the two but I definitely say Anna rather than Wanna!

KeiraKnightley2 · 31/01/2024 11:58

Not sure about dated - maybe!

I know a 32 year old Joanne and I don't like the name.

I also know a 26 year old Joanna and the name really suits her.

DocOck · 31/01/2024 11:56

KirstenBlest · 31/01/2024 11:56

Are you sure she's not quietly knocking a few years off her age?

😂 Possibly

KirstenBlest · 31/01/2024 11:56

Are you sure she's not quietly knocking a few years off her age?

DocOck · 31/01/2024 11:50

See Jean still feels too recent, I have an auntie Jean who is only 50s, so that's not a baby name to me! @KirstenBlest

KirstenBlest · 31/01/2024 11:47

@DocOck , I think it is nice name, but it depends on taste. I don't like the frilly or vowelly names.
I'd say Joan fits in with the Arthur, Reggie, Elsie type names. Jean does too.

DocOck · 31/01/2024 11:37

Yeah I get that @KirstenBlest but Joan is not a nice name or one I could see coming around anytime soon, which I guess is why people try to make it cutsie with 'Joanie'. Still sounds way more dated than the other "old lady chic" names.

KirstenBlest · 31/01/2024 07:19

@DocOck , fashions come round in cycles and names popular about 100 years ago are now trendy. Joanne was very popular in the 1960, whereas Joan would have been more 1930s.

So Joanne would be your DM's age, Joan your DGM's name. Joan will fit in more with names like Elsie and Alfie etc.

DocOck · 31/01/2024 07:06

People are nuts, how is Joanie any less dated as a name? It's more old lady than Joanne or Joanna.

Also why should the fact people don't "know anybody under the age of 40" be a reason not to make a child that. I'd say it was an even better reason!

Joanna is nicer than Joanne. (And for the record I know a Joanne born in the mid-2000s).