What is "joanne"

Joanne (alternate spellings Joann, Jo Ann, Johann, Johanne, Jo-Ann, Jo-Anne) is a common given name for females, being a variant of Joanna, the feminine form of John; derived from the Latin name Johanna with the meaning in Hebrew of "God is gracious". In Northern Ireland of 1975, "Joanne" was the most frequently used name for female newborns, though by the early years of the 21st Century, the name had declined in popularity so that it could not be counted among the twenty most frequently used.

Sometimes in modern English Joanne is reinterpreted as a compound of the two names Jo and Anne, and therefore given a spelling like JoAnne, Jo-Anne, or Jo Anne. However, the original name Joanna in ancient Greek and Latin is a single unit, not a compound. The names Hannah, Anna, Anne, Ann are etymologically related to Joanne just the same: they are derived from Hebrew חַנָּה Ḥannāh 'grace' from the same verbal root meaning 'to be gracious'.

In the United Kingdom, its popularity peaked during the 1970s, when it was frequently among the 10 most popular female names. However, by the 1980s it had fallen out of the top 10 and by 1994 it wasn't even in the top 100.

Joanne was the only Top 40 single for Michael Nesmith as a solo artist. The single was issued by RCA Records in 1970, from the album Magnetic South, the first album released by Nesmith and The First National Band after he left The Monkees. In the United States, the song peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Top 100 on 3 October 1970. It went to No. 4 in Canada, No. 7 in Australia, and No. 1 in New Zealand.

"Joanne" was the second single issued from Magnetic South, following the release of "Little Red Rider" (which did not chart). On the B-side of "Joanne", the track "One Rose" appears.

The song would be a regular on all of Nesmith's solo concert tours and has appeared on all three of his live albums: Live At The Palais, Live at the Britt Festival and Movies of the Mind. Nesmith would also spoof Joanne on his home video, Elephant Parts, with the song Rodan.

The song was covered by crooner Andy Williams for his 1970 album, The Andy Williams Show.