Meaning & Story
A variant of Jean, from the Hebrew Yochanan meaning God is gracious — the -nie ending giving it a warm, slightly old-fashioned American quality, like a name from a 1950s sitcom that has never really stopped being charming.
Jeannie is a name that makes you think of someone spinning around in a kitchen while a good song plays. It has an irrepressible, warm, nostalgic quality — the I Dream of Jeannie association adds a magical, slightly mischievous dimension — and it suits a bright, sociable female pet who is always in the middle of something cheerful. There's an abundance of warmth in it, the kind of name that sounds like it was chosen by someone who was already smiling.