Joyce (name)
| Joyce |
| Pronunciation |
/ˈdʒɔɪs/ joyss |
| Gender |
Female |
| Origin |
| Word/Name |
Breton |
| Meaning |
"Lord" |
The name Joyce is used for females and rarely used by males. It derived from the Old French Masculine name Josse which derived from the Latin name Iudocus the Latinized form of the Breton name Judoc meaning "lord". The name became rare after the 14th century but later revived as a female name which derived from the Middle English joise meaning "rejoice". [1]
Name's origin: Saint Joyce (Judoc)
- Saint Joyce (600 – 668) – Breton prince and hermit, the son of a Juthael, king of Brittany. After his death, his body was claimed to be incorrupt, his beard and hair were trimmed from time to time by his followers (as was claimed for Saint Cuthbert). In 902, while the new minster at Winchester was being built, there arrived some refugees from Saint-Josse who brought with them the relics of their founder. Saint Grimbald enshrined them in the new church. Consequently feasts of Josse were prominently kept at Winchester; His popularity in England may be deduced from the frequent Christian name Joyce (for both men and women) and from the use of his name in oaths by the Wife of Bath in Chancer's Canterbury Tales ("by God and by Seint Joce"). Through the discovery of a rival set of relics at Saint-Josse in 977 the cult of Josse also spread from Northern France to Flanders (where he is sometimes called Joost), Germany, Alsace, Switzerland, and Austria, where he is represented on the mausoleum of Maximilian in Innsbruck.[1]
As a first name
There are several notable individuals with the name Joyce:
Academia
Art
Business
- Joyce Chen (1917–1994), chef and restaurateur
- Joyce Hall (1891–1982), American businessman and founder of Hallmark Cards
- Joyce Nicholson (1919), Australian author and businesswoman
Film, television, and theater
- Joyce Blair (1932–2006), English actress and dancer
- Dr. Joyce Brothers (1928– ), TV personality
- Joyce Bulifant (1937– ), American actress
- Joyce Carey (1898–1993), British actress
- Joyce Chopra (1938– ), American film director
- Joyce Coad (1917–1987), American child actress
- Joyce Compton (1907–1997), American actress
- Joyce DeWitt (1949– ), American actress best known for her role in Three's Company
- Joyce Giraud (1975– ), Puerto Rican actress and model
- Joyce Godenzi (1965– ), beauty queen and actress of Chinese and Australian descent
- Joyce Grenfell (1910–1979), English actress, comedienne and singer-songwriter
- Amy Joyce Hastings (1980– ), Irish actress, and descendent of the Joyce family of the Tribes of Galway
- Joyce Hyser (1957– ), American actress
- Joyce Jacobs (1922– ), British character actress
- Joyce Jimenez (1978– ), Filipino American actress
- Joyce MacKenzie (1929– ), American actress
- Joyce Nizzari (1940– ), American model & actress
- Joyce Randolph (1925– ), American actress
- Joyce Redman (1918– ), British actress
- Joyce Sparer Adler (1916–1999), American critic, playwright, and teacher
- Joyce Van Patten (1934– ), American actress
Literature and print
- Joyce Cary (1888–1957), Irish novelist
- Joyce Cavalcante (1949– ), Brazilian novelist
- Joyce Brabner (1952– ), writer of political comics
- Joyce Dyer, (1947– ), American scholar and writer
- Joyce Jillson (1946–2004), American syndicated astrologer, actress and author
- Joyce Johnson (1935– ), American Award-winning author
- Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918), American poet
- Joyce Lussu (1912–1998), Italian writer, translator and partisan
- Joyce Mansour (1928–1986), British-born Egyptian surrealist poet
- Joyce Maynard (1953– ), American writer
- Joyce Carol Oates (1938– ), American novelist
- Joyce Carol Thomas (1938– ), African American playwright, illustrator and author of children's books
Music
Politics
- Joyce Anelay, Baroness Anelay of St Johns, Conservative member of the House of Lords
- Joyce Banda (1951– ), Malawian Member of Parliament
- Joyce Beatty (1950– ), member of the Ohio House of Representatives
- Joyce Butler (1910–1992), British Labour Co-operative politician
- Joyce Cusack (1942– ), member of the Florida House of Representatives
- Joyce Fairbairn (1939– ), Canadian Senator and first woman Leader of the Government in the Senate
- Joyce Gemayel wife of former President of Lebanon Amin Gemayel and mother of the assassinated politician Pierre Amine Gemayel
- Joyce Hens Green (1928– ), American district court judge
- Joyce Karlin, federal prosecutor, Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, and two-term mayor of Manhattan Beach, California
- Joyce L. Kennard (1941– ), associate justice on the California Supreme Court
- Joyce Mojonnier California Assemblywoman from 1983 to 1991
- Joyce Mujuru (1956– ), Zimbabwean politician, co-vice-president of the Zanu-PF party
- Joyce Quin, Baroness Quin (1944– ), British Labour Party politician
- Joyce Elaine Roop (1952–1995), attorney and environmental activist
- Joyce Savoline, Canadian politician
- Joyce Steele (1910– ), Australian politician and the first woman elected to the Parliament of South Australia
- Joyce Trimmer (1927– ), Canadian politician
- Joyce Watson, Welsh Labour Party politician and Member of the National Assembly for Wales
Sports
Other
- Joyce Ohajah, British journalist and news anchor
- Joyce Meyer (1943– ), Christian Evangelical author and speaker
- Joyce Chiang (1970–1999), Taiwanese-American murdered in Washington DC in a manner similar to Chandra Levy
As a last name
Joyce was the surname of one of the Tribes of Galway.
Business
Film, television, and theater
Literature and print
- Brenda Joyce (author), American author
- Graham Joyce, English science fiction writer
- James Joyce (1882–1941), Irish novelist
- Michael Joyce (1945– ), American author and professor of English
- Patrick Weston Joyce (1827–1914), Irish author, brother of Robert Dwyer Joyce
- Robert Dwyer Joyce (1830–1883), Irish poet
- Stanislaus Joyce (1894–1955), Irish writer, teacher and scholar, brother of James Joyce
- Trevor Joyce (1947– ), Irish poet
- William Joyce (writer) (1957– ), American children's book author and illustrator
Music
Politics
Religion
Sports
- Alan Joyce (1942– ), Australian footballer
- Bill Joyce (1887–?), Scottish footballer
- Bill Joyce (baseball) (1865–1941), American baseball player
- Bob Joyce (1966– ), Canadian ice hockey player
- Cecelia Joyce (1983– ), Irish cricketer
- Don Joyce (American football) (1929– ), American football player
- Dominick Joyce (1981– ), Irish cricketer
- Ed Joyce (1978– ), Irish cricketer
- Gus Joyce (1974– ), Irish cricketer
- Isobel Joyce (1983– ), Irish cricketer
- Jim Joyce (1955– ), Major League Baseball umpire
- Joan Joyce (1940– ), softball icon, among other sports
- Joe Joyce (1961– ), English footballer
- John Joyce (footballer) (1877–1956), English goalkeeper, known as "Tiny" who played for Southampton, Millwall, Blackburn Rovers and Tottenham Hotspur
- Kaelan Joyce (1982– ), Gibraltarian Amateur Boxer
- Kara Lynn Joyce (1985– ), American swimmer
- Leilani Joyce (1974– ), professional squash player from New Zealand
- Luke Joyce (1987– ), American soccer player for Carlisle United F.C.
- Mark Joyce (1983– ), English snooker player
- Matt Joyce (1972), American football player
- Michael Joyce (tennis player) (1973– ), American tennis player
- Pádraic Joyce (1977– ) Irish Gaelic football player for County Galway
- Regina Joyce (1957– ), Irish long-distance runner
- Sean Joyce (1967– ), English footballer
- Warren Joyce (1965– ), English footballer
Other
Fictional characters
See also
References
- ^ David Hugh Farmer. Oxford Dictionary of the Saints. Oxford: Clarendon Press: 1978, 1979, 1980. Pp. 225–226.