Variant of Yvonne, from Old French and Germanic meaning "yew wood."
Yvonna is a variant of Yvonne, the French feminine form of Yves, itself derived from the Old High German Ivo or the Germanic element iv meaning yew tree. The yew was among the most sacred trees in northern European tradition — extraordinarily long-lived, associated with immortality, regeneration, and the liminal boundary between the living and the dead. Celtic and Germanic peoples planted yews in sacred groves and churchyards, and the tree's toxicity and resilience gave it a dual symbolism of death and endurance.
A name rooted in the yew therefore carries an ancient, quietly powerful etymology beneath its elegant French surface. Yvonne became fashionable in France from the medieval period onward, carried by Breton saints and aristocrats, and spread through the French-speaking world and into Britain in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In mid-20th-century Britain and America, Yvonne was a name associated with glamour and continental sophistication — Yvonne De Carlo, the actress who played Lily Munster, and Yvonne Goolagong, the great Australian tennis champion, represented very different cultural associations but both demonstrated the name's cross-cultural adaptability.
Yvonna, with its doubled final syllable, gives the name a slightly more elaborate and distinctly Eastern European or Slavic silhouette, suggesting bearers in Polish, Czech, or Hungarian communities where the -a ending is a natural feminine marker. This variant form has the quality of a name that has traveled — that has adapted to new linguistic environments while preserving its original elegance. It is formal enough for a certificate, affectionate enough for everyday use, and unusual enough that its bearer is unlikely to share it with anyone in the room.