Today I was making arrangements with my friend Jeanne to attend a concert together…yes, her name is Jeanne too. Actually, there are THREE Jeannes where I work. And would you believe that my doctor’s assistant is also named Jeanne? This is quite unusual….and is the first time I have ever personally known other people named Jeanne. Pondering this today got me thinking about the commonality, or lack of, Jeanne’s in the world.
Ok, this is going to appear to be very narcissistic. But I started searching Jeannes on the internet for my own amusement. I'm not sure if this topic is blog worthy and of general interest. I figure it probably is not, but here i go anyway. Feel free to disregard this post as Jeanne promotion of the worst kind. I will understand.
The name Jeanne means “God is gracious” and in 1990 was #200 out of 4276 popular names for women. I suspect it is much less now. It can be pronounced in various ways, but my friends and I all pronounce it as ‘gee-knee’. Got that? It is NOT ‘gee-ann’.
Other spellings of Jeanne are Jeannie (I like that one. I used to spell my name like that as a teen and I would dot my ‘I’ with a little flower), and Genie (like the in-the-bottle type).
Other Jeanne facts
Hurricane Jeanne was the deadliest hurricane in the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season.
Elton John wrote about Little Jeannie:
Oh little Jeannie, you got so much love, little Jeannie
And you take it where it strikes and give it to the likes of me
Oh little Jeannie, she got so much love, little Jeannie
So I see you when I can, you make me all a man can be
Stephan Foster, the father of American music in the 19th century, wrote about Jeanie too:
I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair,
Borne like a vapor on the sweet summer air;
I see her tripping where the bright streams play,
Happy as the daisies that dance on her way.
Many were the wild notes her merry voice would pour,
Many were the blithe birds that warbled them o'er:
I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair,
Floating, like a vapor, on the soft summer air.
There are lots of Genie jokes around. Like this one for example: A man was on a beach when he discovered an old lamp in the sand. He rubbed it and a genie popped out. The genie said "I will grant you three wishes. The only condition is that you cannot wish for more wishes." "Alright," said the man, "I wish for more genies."
And there are comediennes named Jeanne. Take Jeanne Robertson for example. She has a wonderful Southern accent and is simply hilarious. Take a few minutes to listen to this.
I'm fortunate to be a Jeanne in such excellent company.
Lest you think I have totally become Jeanne-self-centered, please know that I took the self centered examination on the Happy Woman magazine website…and I passed.
3 comments:
Having not taken the happywoman test, and being a little Jeanne centered, I have to say that you neglected a complete review if the best Jeanne of all.
Another Jeanne of a French origin - connected to royalty an official mistress. (I wonder what are the requirements for being official rather than unoffical - : )
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, also known as Madame de Pompadour (29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764, French pronunciation: [pɔ̃.pa.duːʁ]) was a member of the French court, and was the official chief mistress of Louis XV from 1745 to her death.
Karson, you really should take the happiness test, you know. *winks* Thank you for your kind compliment. I suppose in a way, though, that the purpose of this whole blog is to review different aspects of this particular Jeanne.
To The deac, I'm sure there are at least dozens of other Jeannes that weren't mentioned here. I chose to focus on the ones that I was more familiar with or that had I had a special connection with. It is interesting that the Jeanne you mention perhaps had something to do with pompadour hairstyles...I might have to research that!
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