Wherefore Art Thou Juanita?

Ainsley Hawthorn

doi:10.5195/names.2022.2377

Abstract

The name Juanita should have been an unlikely candidate for popularity in a place like Newfoundland, where only 0.1% of the population of half a million speaks Spanish as a mother tongue and 0.4% identifies as having Spanish, Latin American, Central American, or South American ethnic origins. Nonetheless, the name is a well-established member of the Newfoundland onomasticon. Drawing on archival research, census data, and other primary source materials, this study seeks to uncover how Juanita was introduced to Newfoundland and what determinants precipitated its widespread acceptance. The author proposes that the early adopters of Juanita were inspired by a nineteenth-century ballad of the same name and that Juanita was ripe for incorporation into the Newfoundland onomasticon because of its phonetic resemblance to girls’ names in already common use in the region, including Anita, Rita, and Zita. As a result, Juanita had the benefit of novelty, an increasingly important factor in name choice in English-speaking countries in the latter half of the nineteenth century, balanced by a familiarity, leading to what Berger and colleagues (2012) call “optimal innovation.”

Highlights

Juanita is a popular woman’s name in Spanish-speaking communities the world over
Less clear is how this name gained a foothold in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, where only 0.1% of the population of half a million speaks Spanish as a mother tongue2 and 0.4% identifies as having Spanish, Latin American, Central American, or South American ethnic origins
The name was firmly established on the island of Newfoundland, a British dominion, by 1945, when 70 Juanitas were enumerated in the census conducted that year (“Newfoundland Census, 1945”)

Summary

Introduction

Juanita is a popular woman’s name in Spanish-speaking communities the world over. Originally a hypocoristic of Juana, the feminine form of John, the charming Juanita eventually became a given name in its own right. Based on the lack of evidence for substantial influence from Spanish speakers, the timing of the name’s debut, the broad geographic, ethnic, and religious distribution of its early usage, and contemporary developments in popular culture, I propose that the adoption of Juanita by Newfoundlanders was inspired by an English ballad of the same name published in 1853 and was predicated on the phonetic similarity of Juanita to girls’ names already in use in the region. What began as a joke in a romantic comedy, quickly took on a life of its own, and Madison appeared on the Social Security Administration’s list of most common baby names in the United States the following year, at 625th place (Evans 2007, 336) It increased gradually in popularity thereafter, peaking at second place in 2001 and 2002.

Conclusion

11. Another Juana is attested in Labrador

Findings

Notes on Contributor