Jo

Jo is a short form of names beginning with Jo-, chiefly Josephine, Joanna, or Joan in the case of women, and Joseph or Jonathan for men, all ultimately rooted in Hebrew through the divine element Yah (a form of the name of God) combined with various verbal roots meaning to add, to be gracious, or God has heard. As an independent given name it gained particular popularity in English-speaking countries during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The character Jo March in Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women helped establish the name as a symbol of independence and spirited femininity. Related forms include Joe, Joey, and the Dutch and Scandinavian Jo used in compound names such as Joost and Johan.