Joyce

Girl name variations

Family name origins & meanings

• English and Irish : from the Breton personal name Iodoc, a diminutive of iudh ‘lord’, introduced by the Normans in the form Josse. Iodoc was the name of a Breton prince and saint, the brother of Iudicael (see Jewell), whose fame helped to spread the name through France and western Europe and, after the Norman Conquest, England as well. The name was occasionally borne also by women in the Middle Ages, but was predominantly a male name, by contrast with the present usage.