Joie

Joie is the French word for joy, making its meaning direct and easy to connect with a family's hopes for a child. It is familiar in the expression joie de vivre, the joy of living. As a personal name used in English, however, Joie may be pronounced like Joy rather than exactly as the French word is spoken.

That distinction is worth keeping clear: the French spelling and meaning do not require every English-speaking bearer to use French pronunciation. A family with a French-language connection may choose differently from one adapting Joy. Either way, the central idea is joy itself, rather than a longer name from which Joie must be shortened. It is a small written form with a readily explainable emotional meaning.