Janice

J8A1N1I1C3E1
/ˈd͡ʒænɪs/

proper noun

A female given name.

OriginFrench Jeanne ← Middle French Jehanne ← Medieval Latin Johanna →
Less commonScrabble 15
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Meanings

Janice1

proper noun

alternative Jan · alternative Janis · alternative Janyce

  1. A female given name.

    "Yes, Mommy," answered Janice. Then she turned to her friend and asked, "Shall I wear my light chintz and kenton kerchief, or my purple and white striped Persian?" "Sufficiently smart for a country lass, Jan," cried her friend.

    1899, Paul Leicester Ford, chapter I, in Janice Meredith
    1 more example

    "Now class," she said, "my name is Mrs. Chubbie. I know how most of you would like to pronounce it, but the correct pronunciation is Mrs. Shew-bay." "It's Jan-eece," the goth-girl says. "Pardon me?" Mrs Shew-bay asks very properly. "My name is pronounced Jan-eece. Not Janice." The whole class tries to stop from laughing out loud at this. "I've changed since last year. Janice is the name of some average, boring student. Do I look average to you?"

    1999, Peter McPhee, Runner, →ISBN, pages 37–8

Janice2

proper nounJanice (plural Janices)

plural Janices

  1. A surname.

Origin

Janice · proper noun

  1. Hebrewיוֹחָנָה
  2. Koine GreekἸωάννα
  3. LatinIōhannēs
  4. LatinIoanna
  5. Medieval LatinJohanna
  6. Middle FrenchJehanne
  7. FrenchJeanne
  8. EnglishJanice

Variant of Jane under apparent influence from Alice, Bernice, Eunice, etc., from French Jeanne, from Middle French Jehanne, from Medieval Latin Johanna, variant of Latin Ioanna under influence from Latin Iōhannēs, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννα (Iōánna), from Hebrew יוֹחָנָה (Yôḥānāh, literally “God is gracious”), the feminized form of יְהוֹחָנָן (Yəhōḥānān) which produced John and its many doublets. As a placeholder name, cf. similar use of John and Jack and earlier use of Joan in the same role. Doublet of Ivana, Jana, Janis, Jean, Jeanne, Jen, Joan, Joanna, Joanne, Johanna, Juana, Shavonne, Sian, Siobhan, Shane, Shaun, Shauna, and Sheena.

More words from French, Middle French, Medieval Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Janice · proper noun

Possibly an altered spelling of Jannis; see Janes.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with Janice

Janisjohannes
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

Janice. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Janice

MLA

“Janice.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Janice. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Janice,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Janice.

Source: Janice on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.