Jannie is the diminutive form of the Afrikaans and Dutch first name "Jan" ("Ian" in English) and can refer to the first name of a person (e.g. a pseudonym) or to the title of a play or film.

It also occurs in the Dutch form as Janni in early sources, and another version of the diminutive is Janneman (lit. "little man Jan").

Names of personalities

Jannie, a playwright

Jannie is the pseudonym used by the author of a play published in the first issue of the influential Afrikaans cultural journal De Goede Hoop in 1903.

This is probably the later, Afrikaans, version of Janni, a pen name J.H.H. de Waal often used when publishing his plays. De Waal was the founding publisher of De Goede Hoop.

Titles of plays

The name Jannie occurs as (first part of) the title for a number of plays and films, and in one case it is the full title of a play. Among them Jannie (Leipoldt, 1952), Jannie Kortbroek (Bischoff?, 1916), Jannie Totsiens (Rautenbach, 1970), Janneman (Murphy/ Van Greunen, 2011), etc.

Jannie by C. Louis Leipoldt (1880-1947)

The original play

An Afrikaans one-act play, originally published in the literary journal Helikon, 1(3):cover A-28. Feb 1952 and in Nuwe Eenbedrywe by Van Schaik and in Die Rooi Duiwel se As by Voortrekkerpers.