Juanita is the Spanish diminutive of Juana, the feminine form of Juan, and so goes back to the Hebrew name John, meaning "God is gracious". It was widely used in Spanish-speaking families and was also popular among English speakers in the early 20th century, when it was in the US top 100. Juanita still ranked 836 in 2000, dropped out of the top 1000 soon afterwards and stands at number 2794 in 2025.