Comments
Meaning
Usage
Pronunciation
Famous
Impression
Other
Good nickname for Josephine.
1
1
I love it as a given, middle name or short form for boys, and as a middle or double name for girls.
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Josephine "Jo" Armstead, also known as "Joshie" Jo Armstead, is an American soul singer and songwriter. Armstead began her career singing backing vocals for blues musician Bobby "Blue" Bland before becoming an Ikette in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in the early 1960s. She also had some success as a solo singer, her biggest hit being "A Stone Good Lover" in 1968. As a songwriter, Armstead teamed up with Ashford & Simpson. The trio wrote hits for various artists, including Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Tina Britt, Ronnie Milsap, and Syl Johnson. In the 1970s, Armstead appeared in the Broadway musicals Don't Play Us Cheap and Seesaw.
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So frilly and 1950's sounding! Love, love, love!
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Jo March from Little Women! She's supercool, and her name suits her very well. :)
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Jo is certainly not ugly. What a horrid thing to say. A lovely name for a girl with spirit.
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Jo is cute as a nickname for a girl and way better than Josie.
-5
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Ugly and too short as a full name.
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Love this as a middle name or as a nickname! Had a crazy dream one time and now all I want is to name my daughter Harper Jo. It fits with so many different names and it’s also unisex which is a plus.
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Jo is the feminine version.
Joe is the masculine.
-1
Joe is the masculine.
-1
Jo can also be used as a short form of Joseph, Jolene/Joline/Joleen, Johanna, or other names beginning with a similar sound.
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My full first name is Jo and while it is pretty common in the UK, it is not common as a first name in the US and it was kind of awful growing up with it. The masculine form of Joe is much more common here and I had to explain why I was a girl named Jo to every new person I met and that yes, it does have a feminine form. It’s actually very common here as a middle name but people never seem to make the connection to it as a first name. I was named after Jo March in Little Women and I love that character, so in that way it has been pretty cool and I am always really happy when a remake comes out and my name becomes popular again!
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Love as a first name.
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I love this as a nickname for either gender.
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1
I am ftm transgender, and I go by Jo instead of my full name.
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Also used in Norway, where it's primarily masculine. [noted -ed]
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My middle name is Jo (Allie Jo) and I love it! As for the people who say this shouldn't be a first name, I agree, but not because it's a nickname. My first name is normally a nickname, but it's my full name, so it's okay to have a nickname as a full name. But, I don't think it should be a first name. It sounds better as a middle name.
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There is Jo Nesbo, the Norwegian film writer. His name is not short for anything, just Jo on its own.
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It is just too short on its own for me. Sort of like Mo or Bo. I feel the same way for Joe, even though it's a letter longer. I love Josephine and Johannes, though, Jo for a girl and Joe for a boy.
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As a name prefix, male & female, it means "YHVH-...," that is, God's proper name in the Jewish Bible.
Examples include: JOhannah, JOhn, JOnathan, etc.
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Examples include: JOhannah, JOhn, JOnathan, etc.
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Jo was one of Janet Jackson's middle names. Her full name is Janet Damita Jo Jackson.
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The name Jo was given to 27 girls born in the US in 2015.
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Jo Calvino, a weightlifter who took part in the Glasgow 2014: Commonwealth Games.
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Jo Jones (née Grant) was a companion of the Third Doctor in the TV show Doctor Who.
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My middle name is Jo (not short for anything, just Jo) and I have never liked it. As a child the other kids all used to say I had a boys middle name and some teachers INSISTED that I was spelling it wrong and always used to add an 'e' on the end to make it 'Joe' which is definitely a boys name! My mum was furious! However I think it goes well with my first name- Maisie Jo.
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Jo Weisman- a French Jewish boy at the time of the Holocaust. Taken to the Velodrome d'Hiver and then sent to a concentration camp, which he escaped from. The 2010 French film La Rafle (The Round-Up) was based on his experience.
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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is a (male) French tennis player. As of 2013, his highest ranking was No. 5.
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Josefina "Jo" Lupo is the deputy sheriff (later head of GD security) in the Syfy series Eureka. She is portrayed by Erica Cerra.
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In Dutch this is mainly a masculine name. It's a short form of Johannes. [noted -ed]
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Jo Polniaczek was the tough but beautiful tomboy on the '80s sitcom The Facts of Life. The show's creators named her after Jo March from the novel Little Women.
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If I hear this name, I immediately think of Little Women, which makes me think, "classic", which makes me think, "old fashioned", which makes me think, "old". So I think this would either fit a little girl or an old woman, but not anything in between. So you could go by Jo until about nine, and then go by your real name (Joanne or something) and then do Jo again when you're old.
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I love this name! It's become one of my (many and various) nicknames, after a character I play. The only thing is, her name is just "Jo", not short for anything. Naming someone outright with a name that's usually a nickname is probably a bad idea, in retrospect; you have to spend a lot of time afterwards constantly explaining how it's not a nickname!
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Surprised no one has cited LITTLE WOMEN as a source of this (nick)name's popularity. For show biz examples, there was not only actress Jo Van Fleet, but popular singer Jo Stafford.
It seems much more popular as an element in "combination names" (Mary Jo, Jo Ann, Billie Jo, etc.) than as a stand-alone. When it IS used by itself, it's probably assumed to be a nickname. "Jo Ann," by the way, may be perceived either as a combo name OR an alternative spelling of "Joanne"--which is one of many feminine forms of John and not a combination name (strictly speaking, although even that could be interpreted as such)
The use of the "Jo" spelling for males is--as others have noted--not uncommon in non-English speaking countries. I'm not sure they'd "get" the distinction, especially when you consider that in French, say, the addition of an "e" to a name is nearly ALWAYS a feminine marker (Rene vs. Renee, for example). The English Joe/Jo is the opposite of this pattern, and would likely confuse many. (Check out the French film WAGES OF FEAR, for an example of a masculine "Jo").
But, of course, in English speaking countries, the two letter spelling for a male would be very rare indeed.
This would appear to follow a pattern where a variant spelling is considered the more FEMININE spelling, no matter whether it is actually shorter than the male version. In that it is not totally different from "Leigh," or "Dayle" or "Jaye," (although in terms of the actual spelling, the last example follows the opposite pattern--it is, however, variant, and that seems to make all the difference.)
1
It seems much more popular as an element in "combination names" (Mary Jo, Jo Ann, Billie Jo, etc.) than as a stand-alone. When it IS used by itself, it's probably assumed to be a nickname. "Jo Ann," by the way, may be perceived either as a combo name OR an alternative spelling of "Joanne"--which is one of many feminine forms of John and not a combination name (strictly speaking, although even that could be interpreted as such)
The use of the "Jo" spelling for males is--as others have noted--not uncommon in non-English speaking countries. I'm not sure they'd "get" the distinction, especially when you consider that in French, say, the addition of an "e" to a name is nearly ALWAYS a feminine marker (Rene vs. Renee, for example). The English Joe/Jo is the opposite of this pattern, and would likely confuse many. (Check out the French film WAGES OF FEAR, for an example of a masculine "Jo").
But, of course, in English speaking countries, the two letter spelling for a male would be very rare indeed.
This would appear to follow a pattern where a variant spelling is considered the more FEMININE spelling, no matter whether it is actually shorter than the male version. In that it is not totally different from "Leigh," or "Dayle" or "Jaye," (although in terms of the actual spelling, the last example follows the opposite pattern--it is, however, variant, and that seems to make all the difference.)
1
Jo Koy is a comedian. I think Jo is short for Joseph.
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Nice as a nickname, bad as a legal name.
-1
-1
This name is also used for females in Dutch and Limburgish, where it can not only be a short form of the names already mentioned in the description, but also of Marjolein.
But, this name is also often used on males, both in Dutch and Limburgish. In those cases, the name is often a short form of Johannes and Joseph. In a way, think of it as the Dutch and Limburgish form of the all-American name Joe.
1
But, this name is also often used on males, both in Dutch and Limburgish. In those cases, the name is often a short form of Johannes and Joseph. In a way, think of it as the Dutch and Limburgish form of the all-American name Joe.
1
This is far too minimalist and youthful. I have to say that I have never heard or read about a guy who spells his nickname Jo. Girls and women spell it Jo, guys go by Joe. So, I'd say this spelling looks a bit feminine for guys.
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A bit short, sort of raging and easily disturbed. It requires a long supportive middle name.
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Jo O'Meara - an ex-member of popular band S Club 7 (later just S Club). She was involved with the Racism Row on Celebrity Big Brother in 2007.
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Hello! Jo Frost is like the most famous bearer of this name! I'm surprised nobody noted Super Nanny on here!
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Also short for Josephine or Joanna.
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Singer Janet Jackson's full name is Janet Damita Jo Jackson.
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I prefer J-o-e if this name is going to be used for a boy.
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Jo is sometimes used as a nickname for J.K Rowling. I shouldn't have to tell you what she wrote.
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"Jo" reminds me of some big girl, blunt and rash, sort of foolish, although my given name is "Jo" (In Chinese "Qiao"). :(
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Jo Van Fleet was an American theater and film actress. Jo has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to motion pictures.
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In Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women, there is a famous Josephine, Jo.
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Comments are left by users of this website. They are not checked for accuracy.
• https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Jo#Dutch (in English)
• https://nl.wiktionary.org/wiki/Jo (in Dutch)
• https://nl.forvo.com/search/Jo/nl/ (in Dutch)
Converted to IPA, this should be: /'jo:/ [noted -ed]