Joachim, Joaquin

Gender: Masculine
Origin: Hebrew
Meaning: “Yahweh has established.”
Eng (JOKE-im); Sp (wah-KEEN)

The name is possibly derived from the Biblical Hebrew male name, Jehoiachin, which is found in the Old Testament as the name of king of Judah imprisoned during the Babylonian exile.

Joachim appears in the apocryphal Gospel of James as the name of the husband of St. Anne and the father of the Virgin Mary. In the Qu’ran the father of Mary is named Imran, though Joachim and Imran are not etymological related. The Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Anglican Church has traditionally revered this legendary character as a saint and as a result, the name became extremely popular across Europe, especially in Catholic countries.

The name was never very common in the English-speaking world but was occasionally used by Irish-Catholics and American-Catholics.

Currently Joachim is the 319th most popular male name in France, (2009) and the 496th most popular in the Netherlands (2010). Its Spanish form of Joaquin, however, ranks even higher in a couple of countries. His rankings are as follows:

• # 5 (Chile, 2010)
• # 99 (Spain, 2010)
• # 306 (United States, 2010).

Other forms of the name include:

• Iyakem (Amharic/Ethiopian)
• Chuaquín (Aragonese)
• Xuaco/Xuacu (Aragonese)
• Jokin (Basque)
• Chaosum (Breton)
• Joasim (Breton)
• Jechim (Breton)
• Joasin (Breton)
• Jaouas (Breton)
• Yoakim Йоаким (Bulgarian)
• Yakim Яким (Bulgarian)
• Yokim Йоким (Bulgarian)
• Joaquim (Catalan/Portuguese)
• Quim (Catalan/Portuguese)
• Ximo (Catalan/Valencian)
• Youakim (Coptic/Syrian)
• Jáchym (Czech)
• Jokum (Danish)
• Jochem (Dutch/German)
• Aki (Finnish)
• Jaakkima (Finnish)
• Joachim (English/French/German/Hungarian/Polish)
• Kim (Finnish/Scandinavian)
• Kimi (Finnish)
• Xaquín (Galician)
• Xoaquin (Galician)
• Xocas (Galician)
• Ioa’kime იოაკიმე (Georgian)
• Achim (German)
• Jochen (German)
• Jochim (German)
• Jóakim (Icelandic)
• Gioacchino/Gioachino (Italian)
• Giovacchino (Italian)
• Yoakima (Lingala)
• Joakim Јоаким (Macedonian/Serbian/Scandinavian) 
• Akimka (Maldovan)
• Iacin (Murcian)
• Juaqui (Murcian)
• Quino (Murcian)
• Ioachim (Romanian)
• Giuachin (Romansch)
• Akim АкимЯким (Russian)
• Yakim (Russian)
• Joaquín (Spanish)
• Joakym Йоаким (Ukrainian)

Feminine forms include:

• Gioacchina (Italian)
• Gioachina (Italian)
• Giovacchina (Italian)
• Joachima (Polish)