Jocelyn

← Back to The Biblical World

Girl · Germanic, through Norman French

Jocelyn

Say it: JOSS-lin

Try it with your surname

Meaning

From the Norman name Joscelin, a diminutive of Gauzelin, from the Germanic tribal name of the Gauts (Goths); originally a man's name.

Likelythe main view, with some doubt.

A medieval man's name brought to England by the Normans, it became a girls' name in the 20th century.

Its wave through time

Most used in the 2000s

In the United States

108,766 babies given this name since 1900
At its height in 2007, about 1 in 363 girls
1,138 babies in 2020

Through the ages

Used by

English French American

The family of the name

Other spellings: Joselyn, Jocelynn, Joslyn

French	Josselin

Names worth a look

JoannaGirlFeminine of John, from Hebrew Yoḥanan 'YHWH is gracious'.Biblical · peak 1984

AlisonGirlMedieval Norman and Scots diminutive of Alice, from Germanic Adalheidis ('noble kind').Middle Ages · peak 1979

GenevieveGirlUncertain. Possibly from Germanic or Gaulish elements; proposals include 'kin' and 'woman', but none is settled.Early Medieval · peak 1915

CeciliaGirlLatin, feminine of the Roman family name Caecilius, traditionally derived from caecus 'blind'.Rome · peak 1904

AdaGirlUncertain. Usually taken as a short form of Germanic names in adal 'noble', but it has also been linked with Hebrew…Middle Ages · peak 1888

IsabelGirlA medieval Occitan and Spanish form of Elisabeth, from Hebrew Elisheva 'my God is an oath'.Middle Ages · peak 2003

GiselleGirlFrench form of Gisela, from Germanic gisil, whose sense ('pledge, hostage' or 'offshoot') is uncertain.Victorian · peak 2007

GisèleGirlFrom Germanic gisil, probably 'pledge' or 'hostage'.Early Medieval · peak 2009 · forgotten

Where this comes from

The Domesday Book (1086) source
United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.