Modern compound of Joy (from Old French 'joie') and Ann (Hebrew 'grace'), meaning 'joyful grace.'
Joyann is a compound name of considerable warmth, fusing two of the most semantically cheerful names in the English-speaking tradition. Joy derives from the Old French *joie* and ultimately Latin *gaudia* — plural of *gaudium*, meaning gladness or delight — and has been used as a given name since at least the medieval period, when virtue names were in Christian fashion. Ann (or Anne) flows from the Hebrew Hannah, meaning "grace" or "favor," passed through the Greek *Anna* and into virtually every European language.
By joining them, the name doubles its benediction: grace and gladness together. The compound construction was a distinctly American vernacular art form of the early-to-mid twentieth century. Families — particularly in the South and Midwest — developed a tradition of fusing two short names into a single given name, producing names like Maryjo, Sueann, Bettylee, and Joyann.
These names were rarely used with a hyphen; they were simply spoken and written as one, a run-together blessing that felt both intimate and exuberant. Joyann in particular seems to have been most popular in the 1940s and 1950s, a period when American optimism was running high and the desire to bestow happiness on a newborn daughter found its way directly into naming choices. The name carries a certain mid-century sweetness that has aged gracefully. In an era of naming revivals, Joyann has not yet had its moment — but Joy and Anne separately are both quietly fashionable again, and the compound form waits in the wings with all its original warmth intact.