Traditionally, in Italian, the word Madonna was used to mean Madam. So, Madonna Lisa meant Madam Lisa. The word Madonna was later shortened to Monna. Monna with a double N. When this was written in English an N was dropped and Monna became Mona. So Mona Lisa means Madam Lisa or Lady Lisa.
And then comes Mona Lisa’s other name which is La Gioconda. After her marriage, Lisa Gherardini became Lisa Giocondo. Interestingly, in Italian, Giocondo means light-hearted or cheerful. Meaning, bright and joyful. And today, Mona Lisa is very famous for her smile. So that’s where it got its name, La Giocondo. In French, the word Giocondo is written with a J, like this, Joconde.
So that’s why when you go to the Louvre Museum in Paris and see the painting of Mona Lisa, in French, it would be identified as La Joconde. Now, the interesting thing is that in 1550, despite this revelation, people were not ready to believe that Vasari’s narrative was correct. Many theories started to emerge about this woman being someone else.
