Janis

Janis as an English feminine name is a mid-twentieth-century elaboration of Jane, itself the English feminine form of the Latin Iohannes, ultimately from the Hebrew name Yohanan meaning God is gracious. It gained particular cultural prominence through the American rock singer Janis Joplin, making it closely associated with the 1960s and 1970s era. The masculine Latvian form Jānis traces the same Hebrew root through the same Latin channel and is one of the most common given names in Latvia, closely tied to the midsummer festival Jāņi. Related forms include Jan, Jane, Jean, Joan, and John.