Jean for a girl is, as I said, English and is pronounced JEEN. It was first formed around the 12th century in Scotland; one of the first to bear the name was
Jean Stuart, daughter of
Robert II of Scotland (1316-1390) and
Elizabeth Mure of Rowallan (d. 1355) (see here:
http://snipurl.com/bs4g). The feminine name
Jean is just a medieval form of
Jane, which is in turn the English form of Jehanne, the feminine form of Jehan.
Jean for a boy is only French, and is pronounced ZHAWN. It's the French form of Jehan, the Old French form of
Johannes.
Johannes is the name from which the English
John derives from.
Relationship-wise,
Jean for a girl is the first cousin once removed of
Jean for a boy.
I know all this because my sister and grandmother are both named
Jean. My sister's called
Jeannie (JEEN-ee) to differentiate between the two.
Miranda
EDIT: Grammar
This message was edited 1/4/2005, 7:25 PM