Shavonne

Shavonne is an anglicized respelling of Siobhán, the Irish form of Joan, which itself derives from the Old French Jehanne and ultimately from the Hebrew Yohanan, meaning God is gracious. The spelling Shavonne emerged in American English as an attempt to capture the approximate pronunciation of the Irish original, since Siobhán is pronounced roughly as shih-VAWN. It gained particular use in African American communities during the latter twentieth century as part of a broader trend of adopting and adapting Irish and other names into distinctive new forms. Related forms include Siobhán, Shivon, and Chevonne.