Jocelyn. Jocelyn /jo-ce-lyn/ [3 sylls.] as a girls' name is pronounced JOSS-lin, JOSS-sa-lyn. It is of Old German origin, and the meaning of Jocelyn is a member of the German tribe, the Gauts.From an Old French masculine name brought to Britain by the Normans in the form Joscelin, which was from Gautzelin, a pet name for a member of a Germanic tribe, the Gauts, who may have been the same as the Goths.he name may have been associated with pet forms of the name Josse, which was the French form of Judoc or Jodoc, probably from Celtic jud meaning chief or lord. Josse or Jodoc was the name of a popular saint.